Ed Jones still 'not 100%' after testing positive for COVID-19 after Mid-Ohio IndyCar race
NASHVILLE — Ed Jones said he's still not 100% physically, just over a month after a bout of COVID-19 he battled for more than two weeks, he told IndyStar Friday during media availability at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.
Jones told IndyStar he was "really sick" during the three-day weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course July 2-4, where he started 16th and which ended with the driver of the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda in last-place (26th) after an early collision with Team Penske's Will Power.
"But I didn't know then if I had (COVID-19)," he said Jones. "I was just really struggling throughout the weekend."
"(During the break) I was recovering from that most of the time and getting back into training once I was over it. Surprisingly, it was a lot tougher to recover (than I thought). I rested up the next two-and-a-half weeks, and then I was able to start training and see what I could do."
The interview session ended before IndyStar was able to ask Jones if he is vaccinated.
After trying to get back up to speed over the past two weeks or so, Jones said he still doesn't feel 100% headed into Friday's initial practice for the brand-new street course race, "but I've done as much as I could to try and be able to get back. I know this always is going to take some time."
Jones sits 21st in driver points, second-to-last among IndyCar competitors who have run all 10 events during the 2021 season. His No. 18 occupies the final of 22 Leaders Circle spots for next season, which pays close to $1 million to those programs, as long as they commit to running a full campaign in 2022. The driver, who came back to IndyCar this year after a year out of the sport, has registered a best finish of 9th in 2021 in Race 1 of the Detroit Grand Prix. He's finished outside the top-15 in six of his 10 starts with his new team, where his future is presently uncertain.
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Though he was one of very few Indy 500 drivers to be able to move their way up the Indy 500 grid after an initial qualifying run this May, the No. 18 team has been plagued with mechanical issues that kept it off-track for large portions of -- or even entire -- practice sessions.
"We've just got to focus on these six races," Jones said. "The main thing is we can't miss a session. If we can stay on the track each time, that would be a huge gain. That's what we've lacked, that reliability. We've got to have clean weekends, and then we should have some strong results. That's where the focus is."
Jones is not the first IndyCar driver to go public with both having tested positive for COVID-19 and being fairly sick during the ordeal. Back in May, then-Indy 500 polesitter Scott Dixon told the Associated Press that he had contracted the coronavirus in December while in the U.K. The sickness hit Dixon hard for three days, he told AP. He said he slept for 14 hours or more, and dealt with body soreness.
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It's unclear whether any other drivers have tested positive or dealt with any symptoms of COVID-19. In mid-April, before the start of the season, Penske Entertainment Corp. president and CEO Mark Miles said IndyCar was 90% vaccinated, and that percentage has continued to go up as series owner Roger Penske, as well as team owners, pushed hard on their entire teams to get vaccinated to avoid any chance of spread that could hurt their shots at the Indy 500 or the season at-large.
Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.