“Bubba” Wallace on pole tonight for NASCAR Trucks in Iowa

By Jul 11, 2014, 6:49 PM EDT
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With less than a minute remaining in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, Darrell Wallace Jr. snatched the pole for tonight’s American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway away from Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Erik Jones.

Wallace earned his second career Truck Series pole with a lap of 137.279 miles per hour on his fourth of five laps run during the 10-minute final round. That was enough to beat out 18-year-old Jones and his best lap of 137.189 mph.

Behind the two KBM drivers will be Timothy Peters of Red Horse Racing and Ryan Blaney of Brad Keselowski Racing in Row 2.

Peters had been a provisional pole sitter during the final round, but his lap of 136.897 mph was ultimately good enough for third on the grid. Blaney turned in a 136.855 mph lap for fourth.

Cole Custer and defending Truck Series champion Matt Crafton will start in Row 3. Justin Lofton and Ron Hornaday Jr. are in Row 4, and Joey Coulter and German Quiroga roll out from Row 5.

Green flag for tonight’s 200-lap race, weather permitting, is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET.

Johnny Sauter enters the race with an eight-point advantage over Crafton in the Truck Series standings, with Peters (-11), Blaney (-12), and Hornaday (-13) not far behind. Sauter will start 18th.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT IOWA – STARTING LINEUP

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

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
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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.”