Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch fastest in Saturday morning's Sprint Cup practice at Bristol - MotorSportsTalk

Ryan Newman was fastest in early-morning NASCAR Sprint Cup practice Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Newman’s clocked 58 laps around the .533-mile, high-banked, with his field-setting lap being 127.081 mph at 15.099 seconds.

Stewart Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch both continued to be fast. Harvick was second-fastest in Saturday’s morning practice (126.863), while Busch was third-fastest (126.687).

The elder Busch brother, a five-time career winner at Bristol, was fastest in Friday’s single practice session.

Matt Kenseth (126.670) and Paul Menard (126.545) were fourth- and fifth-fastest. Both drivers have replacements standing by for Sunday’s race just in case, as their wives are due to give berth any day now.

Sprint Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 29th fastest (124.517). Denny Hamlin, pole sitter for Sunday’s Food City 500, sixth fastest (126.179).

Joe Nemechek (121.213) and Timmy Hill (120.150) were the slowest.

The field was separated by just under seven mph and .871 of a second.

All 43 drivers qualified for Sunday’s Food City 500 took part in the practice.

The final Happy Hour practice takes part later this morning at Noon ET.

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Below are Saturday morning’s first practice speeds:

1 Ryan Newman 127.081 mph

2 Kevin Harvick 126.863

3 Kurt Busch 126.687

4 Matt Kenseth 126.670

5 Paul Menard 126.545

6 Denny Hamlin 126.179

7 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 126.104

8 Martin Truex Jr. 126.063

9 Kyle Busch 126.038

10 Kasey Kahne 126.988

11 Brad Keselowski 125.955

12 Clint Bowyer 125.773

13 Marcus Ambrose 125.757

14 Jimmie Johnson 125.740

15 Joey Logano 125.510

16 Casey Mears 125.494

17 Jeff Gordon 125.428

18 Carl Edwards 125.313

19 David Gilliland 125.150

20 David Ragan 125.142

21 Jamie McMurray 125.117

22 Brian Vickers 125.101

23 Justin Allgaier 125.085

24 AJ Allmendinger 125.011

25 Aric Almirola 124.954

26 Danica Patrick 124.841

27 Auston Dillon 124.654

28 Kyle Larson 124.646

29 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 124.517

30 Tony Stewart 124.436

31 Greg Biffle 124.291

32 Travis Kvapil 124.275

33 Michael Annett 124.170

34 Alex Bowman 123.762

35 Landon Cassill 123.666

36 Cole Whitt 123.666

37 Michael McDowell 123.491

38 Reed Sorenson 123.467

39 Josh Wise 123.047

40 Parker Kligerman 122.937

41 Ryan Truex 122.764

42 Joe Nemechek 121.213

43 Timmy Hill 120.150

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.”

Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch fastest in Saturday morning’s Sprint Cup practice at Bristol

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