Danica Patrick puts pressure on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for memorable Valentine’s Day

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As a race car driver, Danica Patrick has big plans for Friday. She’ll take part in two practices as well as the drawing for the field for Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited.

But as for plans for afterward, Patrick has absolutely no clue.

We’re talking about Valentine’s Day plans, of course, with her boyfriend and fellow Sprint Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“I’m the girl, don’t ask me, ask Ricky,” Patrick said when asked about what she expects to do on the big V Day during Thursday’s Media Day at Daytona International Speedway.

But while she doesn’t have a clue what Stenhouse is planning, Patrick made sure she dropped a few hints in recent days.

“I did say to him yesterday, I said, ‘Hey, babe, I feel like I shouldn’t be thinking about this because it should be your job, but would you like me to ask someone to make reservations as a restaurant?’

“He said, ‘No, I’ll get it.  I’ll figure it out.  I’ll ask somebody here.’

“I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll let you just do it.'”

Patrick said she expects to at least go out for a romantic dinner. Now the pressure is on Stenhouse to come up with a broader overall plan.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Patrick told reporters. “I think we’ll probably go to a restaurant.  I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him, though. Maybe he’ll tell you.”

Hopefully, this year’s Valentine’s Day will be a bit more, shall we say, pricier than the gifts the couple gave to each other last year, when their romance was just beginning to bloom.

“For our Valentine’s Day presents we both bought like $20 gifts for each other and paid like $100 in shipping because we did it last minute,” Patrick said. “He was telling me how he had it shipped and it wasn’t there.  I said, I did the last thing, actually.  He said (his gift) was more expensive.  I said, ‘Your gift was $22 and I paid $100 in shipping.  So that was our Valentine’s Day.”

Later in the day, Stenhouse downplayed if he’s feeling any pressure for this Valentine’s Day: “We went and ate dinner (last year), but she made the reservation.  I made reservations this year, so we’re good.”

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IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

IndyCar video game 2024
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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.”