BARBERVILLE, Fla.  Questions and fear swirled in Bill Balogs mind as he sat upside down in his sprint car.

Hed just flipped while running fourth at Volusia Speedway Parks DIRTcar Nationals. Pain burned in his right ankle. He feared the worst. But like most racers, his thoughts were only on the next race.

When I was in the car kind of upside down, I was trying to think if I could run the throttle pedal with my left foot on the next race because I thought my foot got ripped off, honestly, Balog explained. Or I wondered, Who am I going to hire to drive this thing?

World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car officials carefully removed Balog from the No. 17b, and the North Pole Nightmare headed to the hospital. He expected his foot to be broken at the very least, but good news came from the doctor. Tissue damage and swelling was the extent of the injuries.

They did all the x-rays, and it wasnt broken, Balog said. It looked like a softball, and its still big. I mean, Im walking around fine on it and working. Its just a little bit sore.

It was a rapid, positive turn of events for the Hartland, Wis., resident. From thinking his foot was gone to learning there were no breaks. Fortunately for Balog, the only break was in the World of Outlaws calendar following the night of his crash. Three weeks off have allowed him enough time to rest and heal. Now, the season is set to resume, and Balog is ready to roll.

The Greatest Show on Dirt heads back to Volusia for the Bike Week JamboreeMarch 2-3.

Before his flip, the Balog and his team had ample reason for encouragement.

Balog qualified second quickest in his flight during the first full points night of the season. That led to a heat win and a personal best Volusia result of sixth in the feature. The following evening, he timed in seventh quickest before securing another top 10 in the main event. Saturdays finale looked as if it may be the highlight of his week. Despite drawing the very last pill for qualifying, Balog qualified second in the flight. He won his heat with a thrilling last-lap pass and finished third in the dash to line him up on row two of the feature. Then the crash ended a potential top five.

I feel like we learned a lot last year on the practice night, basically everything not to do, Balog said. We basically just rolled that setup into this new car with what we learned at Volusia, and it was really good. The car that we started with was a brand-new Triple X, and it scaled out really nice. Everything measured really good. We had some confidence that way.

The focus is fully back on Florida this week. Four-wheel and two-wheel worlds will collide as the countrys best sprint car drivers invade Bike Week at Volusia, kicking off a stretch of 17 consecutive weeks of racing for the World of Outlaws.

Balog had the window to heal. Now its time to hit the road again.

Im really looking forward to it, Balog said. I feel confident with what were doing with the car, definitely going in the right direction, and we want to carry that on to the other tracks.