Bowyer, Gordon return to Martinsville 1 year after big contact - MotorSportsTalk

A year ago at the Martinsville Speedway spring race, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon collided on a late-race restart, with the contact also taking Jimmie Johnson out in the process.

It was a double-hit; it cost them all a shot at winning, and in particular, it cost Gordon and Johnson the chance to deliver Hendrick Motorsports their 200th victory in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.

A win at Martinsville for that milestone would have been poignant for Hendrick after a plane crash outside the track in October 2004 killed ten people, including Rick Hendrick’s son Ricky, team president John Hendrick and his two twin daughters.

The chaos happened because of a late caution when David Reutimann stopped on track, unable to get his stricken car into a safe area.

“He was running around slow; you got a problem, you really … get down and get on pit road,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of Reutimann after the race. “I don’t believe he had any trouble getting down. When we went by him the first time, he was low. I would like to hear a good excuse, to be honest with you, because I’m sure it would be laughable.”

Bowyer and Gordon famously got together once again in last November’s penultimate race of the season at Phoenix, when Gordon retaliated against Bowyer and triggered a fight between the two drivers’ crews.

Ryan Newman wound up beating AJ Allmendinger for the win. Newman hasn’t won since and has instead made headlines this weekend for blocking comments, while Allmendinger won’t be back at Martinsville to equal or better his best career finish. He’ll be in the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Barber, with an IZOD-backed entry for Team Penske, for his first open-wheel start in seven years.

Regan Smith takes over the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet this week, which currently resides in the top 10 in owner points despite a rotating driver lineup and a lack of major sponsorship.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”