Penske teammates Castroneves, Power now tied atop IndyCar standings - MotorSportsTalk

With double points on offer, today’s Pocono IndyCar 500 threatened to shake up the Verizon IndyCar Series championship – and it did.

Will Power entered today with a 39-point advantage over Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves. But on Lap 172, Power tacked to the inside twice on Castroneves while they battled for position, and ultimately drew a black flag from Race Control for blocking.

Castroneves finished runner-up to winner Juan Pablo Montoya, while Power finished 10th.

And what was once a 39-point lead for the Australian has vanished completely, as both men are now even atop the standings with seven races remaining in the season.

Only time will tell if this moment was when the 2014 IndyCar title fight truly shifted. But for now, Power’s momentum is gone – and to be frank, he only has himself to blame for that.

As for the rest of the title picture, both Simon Pagenaud and Montoya also gained some ground today, too.

Pagenaud, who won last weekend in the second race of the Houston doubleheader, finished a relatively quite sixth in today’s race. But in the championship, he’s moved up from fourth to third and now sits 44 points behind the two Penske drivers.

Montoya is also putting himself into contention for what would be his second Indy-car crown (CART, 2000). He was behind 116 points prior to today but after earning a big win from the pole position, he’s chopped his deficit down to 55 points.

His win continues what has been a hot streak for him as of late. He’s now claimed three podium finishes (third at Texas, second at Houston Race 1, win at Pocono) in the last four events.

Not faring as well today points-wise was Ryan Hunter-Reay, who slipped from third to fifth in the standings at 58 points behind Power and Castroneves – a loss of 17 points from where he stood post-Houston.

Here’s how the championship looks after today’s 500-miler in Pennsylvania:

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES STANDINGS (AFTER 11 OF 18 RACES)
T-1. 12-Will Power, Penske, 446 points
T-1. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, 446 points
3. 77-Simon Pagenaud, SPM, -44 points
4. 2-Juan Pablo Montoya, Penske, -55 points
5. 28-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, -58 points
6. 34-Carlos Munoz, Andretti, -106 points
7. 25-Marco Andretti, Andretti, – 121 points
8. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, -149 points
9. 8-Ryan Briscoe, Ganassi, -161 points
10. 11-Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH, -175 points

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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.”