Halfway home in Daytona 500; race now official - MotorSportsTalk

They’ve raced to the halfway mark in the Daytona 500. The question now is can they go the full distance, if another round of storms heads in from the west.

Paul Menard led at the 100-lap, 250-mile mark over Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano.

Richard Petty’s Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick were among the race leaders during the green flag pit stop sequence that wrapped by lap 90. Both have now fallen outside of the top 15 after their stops.

Cole Whitt for Swan Racing was best of the “underdogs” at the halfway mark, 11th at lap 100. Josh Wise, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier and David Gilliland also spent time in the top five during the pit sequence.

Biggest loser in this sequence since the restart has been Kyle Busch, who led at the restart. Busch left a pit stop with an air gun attached, then exacerbated the problem when his original pass-through penalty was upgraded to a full stop-and-go when he failed to serve the pass-through. Some salty radio language followed.

No miracles tonight for April Talladega winner David Ragan of Front Row Motorsports, who headed behind the wall just before the halfway mark.

More updates to follow throughout the race.

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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.”