American racing star Colton Herta blamed his signature long hair and a broken hair sock for his struggles in Toronto race

• Colton Herta was on the pole for IndyCar's Toronto race but finished second to Scott Dixon.
• Herta's P2 was still impressive if you consider he struggled to see at the end of the race.

Colton Herta is known for his signature locks, but they nearly cost him a second-place finish this week.

Herta finished behind Scott Dixon at this weekend's IndyCar race in Toronto. While the result may have been disappointing for the rising American star, it was also impressive, considering he had trouble seeing where he was going at the end of the race.

Herta's balaclava broke and his hair fell in front of his face, but he managed to hold off Felix Rosenqvist for P2.

"I couldn't really see much because my head sock broke," Herta said after the race. "All of my hair went in front of my face."

When Rosenqvist asked if that was why he was braking so early in the turns, Herta replied: "I couldn't see. I was having to look out the sides of my visors instead of in front."

Herta later acknowledged that his balaclava has to work a bit harder than other drivers' and will be sure to use a new one every race from now on.

"This head sock that I have has to hold back a lot of hair so I can understand why it broke," Herta said. "I've never actually seen that or heard of anything like that happening. I don't know if I just put that thing to good use, or maybe there's signs of wear and tear beforehand that I didn't see."

One thing Herta won't do, however, is get a haircut.

"That would also solve things, but I'm not gonna," Herta said.

The second-place finish was just the second podium in 10 races this season for the driver who finished third and fifth in the championship standings over the last two seasons.

While Herta is just eighth in the standings this year, he is still eyeing a move to Formula One, possibly as soon as 2024. He recently completed his first test for McLaren's F1 team, impressing team principal Andreas Seidl.

"I have to say, the team was quite impressed how Colton was dealing with all these challenges and with his professional approach," Seidl said via Planet F1. "His approach, together with the team, allowed him really to build up pace gradually, gain confidence, and also finding always the right balance between taking risk and still keeping the car on the track, which is obviously important as well on a test like this. So, very happy with how the test went."