Kevin Harvick’s bid for back-to-back wins ends with broken left front wheel hub

By Mar 9, 2014, 5:29 PM EDT
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Kevin Harvick went from halfway to no way in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After leading the race at the 134-lap halfway point of the 267-lap event, Harvick’s bid for back-to-back wins came to an abrupt end when his No. 4 Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet suffered a broken left front wheel hub after about 175 laps.

When that happened, it became increasingly difficult for Harvick to turn the wheels in the turns around the 1.5-mile progressively-banked racetrack. He ultimately completed 191 laps of the scheduled 267-lap event before taking his ailing car to the garage.

Last week’s Sprint Cup winner at Phoenix, Harvick was the halfway leader for Sunday’s race and went on to lead 23 laps before apparently hitting a piece of debris that locked up the left front wheel on his race car.

With 50 laps remaining in the race and Harvick’s car in the garage being serviced and repaired, he was scored 40th in the 43-car field — although his team hoped to get him back on the track before the end of the race.

As it turned out, Harvick was unable to get back on the track and wound up with a very disappointing 41st-place finish.

“It looks like the left front hub is locked shut,” Harvick told Fox Sports. “The car just kind of lost the handling the last 15 or 20 laps and started to get loose, which makes sense with that left front brake dragging like that.

“Our Jimmy John’s car was Freaky Fast again, and just got to keep doing what we’re doing and everything will be fine with cars like that.”

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

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
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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.”