Ed Carpenter leads halfway in Firestone 600 IndyCar race at Texas, only to yield back to Will Power on race off pit road - MotorSportsTalk

Ed Carpenter was leading at the halfway point of Saturday night’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, only to yield a few laps later to early race leader Will Power

Carpenter was at the front of the pack on Lap 124 of the 248-lap event. Scott Dixon was running second, followed by early race leader Will Power in third, Simon Pagenaud in fourth and Tony Kanaan in fifth.

Sixth through 10th were Juan Pablo Montoya, Mikhail Aleshin, Josef Newgarden, Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves.

The race was put under its second caution period on Lap 121 after Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais made contact, putting both cars into the wall.

Based upon TV replays, it appeared Wilson was low on the apron, began spinning and slid up the racetrack into Bourdais.

“I got a good run on Sebastien coming down the back straight, he tried to block it and I went down and dove underneath, but he kept coming and forced me below the white line on turning,” Wilson said. “I thought he was going to leave me alone, but he only left half a lane and I had two wheels on the apron and obviously just lost control. It’s just really disappointing.”

Bourdais wasn’t sure whether he or Wilson were at fault in the incident.

“I got a bit checked up by my teammate and then Justin got a run after that,” Bourdais said. “I thought I’d hug the inside to protect the position to Justin. All of a sudden, I heard, looking inside, we were in Turn 3 and Justin ended up on the apron and hit the banking, spun out and got me on the way up.

“Honestly, I don’t know if it’s a racing incident, his fault or my fault. If it’s my fault, I apologize.”

Several teams waited to pit, with Carpenter, Power and others coming in on Lap 126. Power beat Carpenter off pit road to regain the lead on Lap 127.

On Lap 135, Hunter-Reay came into the pit and shut his car down, apparently due to some type of motor or mechanical problem.

Marco Andretti, who brought out the first caution, will be scored last on the 22-car finishing grid, dropping out of the race just three laps in after the motor on his car expired.

Saturday’s race marked the first event under new rules eliminating double-file restarts, which IndyCar officials announced Friday.

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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.”