What to watch for: IndyCar at Iowa - MotorSportsTalk

– Critical day for Marco, RHR: Andretti Autosport has won four times in the IZOD IndyCar Series’ six events at Iowa Speedway, with Marco Andretti winning in 2011 and Ryan Hunter-Reay taking the checkered flag last year en route to the championship. Both of them need to come through with results as they both try to reel in championship leader Helio Castroneves. RHR currently sits second in the standings and lost nine points to Castroneves yesterday after he won the pole (he’s now 25 points off the Brazilian’s pace), while Andretti has slipped to third after electrical issues stopped his run one weekend ago in Milwaukee.

– Bump day, literally: Ask anyone that’s lived in the Midwest – the summers can be hot as a broiler and the winters can be stone cold. Those particular patterns have helped make for a bumpy ride at Iowa Speedway, particularly in Turns 1-2, where the bumps have helped end the day of more than one driver in the past. As mentioned earlier this week, they’re not as bad as they used to be, but teams will still have to make sure their cars are set-up properly in order to deal with them.

– Carving through traffic: Like last weekend at Milwaukee, the short oval at Iowa will put emphasis on dealing with lapped traffic. But with laps ticking by in the 17-to-18 second range, drivers will have to make their decisions quickly when they come upon the backmarkers in the field.

– Fatigue is a factor: Didn’t we just say this? Well, it’s worth emphasizing again. Everybody in the IndyCar paddock is ready for a weekend off after this race, which will end the most grueling stretch they’ll have all year. But teams and drivers alike must remain mentally sharp for a little while longer. Minds can’t wander at 185 miles per hour or on pit road during critical late-race stops.

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.”