IndyCar results and points standings after inaugural Music City Grand Prix at Nashville

By Aug 8, 2021, 10:00 PM EDT
0 Comments

IndyCar results and points standings: NASHVILLE — Marcus Ericsson scored one of the most improbable comebacks in recent series history, rebounding to win the inaugural Music City Grand Prix after a Lap 4 crash that shot his No. 8 Dallara-Honda skyward about 6 feet.

It’s the second career victory for the Swede, who also won at Detroit two months ago. But this was perhaps the comeback of the 2021 season as Ericsson fell to the rear of the field after serving a stop and go penalty (and pitting for a new front wing) after the contact with Sebastien Bourdais.

But 25 laps later, Ericsson was in the lead, and he’d stay in first for 37 of the final 49 laps on the 11-turn, 2.17-mile track.

CHAOTIC DEBUT: Marcus Ericsson wins wild Music City Grand Prix inaugural

“I’m trying to figure out how I won the race after being up in the sky, thinking my race was over,” Ericsson said with a laugh. “Yeah, I can’t believe it. Got some good airtime. I feel sorry for (Bourdais). One of those incidents. I thought my race over there. Then we had to repair the car. I got a stop-and-go. We were dead last. It was all about trying to recover. I think the car got some damage, as well, from that flight.

“I thought I would try and recover as many positions as possible and have a solid top 15 was sort of my game plan after that incident. Then the team did a great job with the strategy. Pit stops were great. There were so many incidents. For sure there was a little luck there, as well, no doubt about that.

“But we delivered when we had to. I think the bottom line was that we were really fast. We were fast. In IndyCar, anything can happen. It’s been like that over the years. Once again today it shows that you can never give up, you have to keep pushing all the time, keep believing. If you have a strong team like I have, anything’s possible.”

Teammate Scott Dixon finished second in the first new IndyCar street race in 10 years. It was the fourth consecutive IndyCar victory in the Nashville area for Chip Ganassi Racing (which won the most recent three races at Nashville Superspeedway from 2006-08) and the fifth win this season for Ganassi.

Dixon also closed within 42 points of teammate and championship leader Alex Palou in the standings with five races remaining.

James Hinchcliffe finished a season-best third in his first podium finish since Iowa Speedway in 2019 and his best road or street course finish since Barber in 2018.

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday after the inaugural Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville:

RESULTS

Click here for the box score from the inaugural Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville. Click here for the lap leader chart.

Here is the finishing order with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out:

1. (18) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 80, Running
2. (2) Scott Dixon, Honda, 80, Running
3. (10) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 80, Running
4. (14) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 80, Running
5. (13) Graham Rahal, Honda, 80, Running
6. (26) Ed Jones, Honda, 80, Running
7. (9) Alex Palou, Honda, 80, Running
8. (4) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 80, Running
9. (15) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 80, Running
10. (12) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 80, Running
11. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 80, Running
12. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 80, Running
13. (8) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 80, Running
14. (11) Will Power, Chevrolet, 80, Running
15. (6) Jack Harvey, Honda, 80, Running
16. (5) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Running
17. (3) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 80, Running
18. (21) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 80, Running
19. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 74, Contact
20. (27) Cody Ware, Honda, 70, Handling
21. (7) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 68, Contact
22. (23) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 67, Running
23. (19) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 37, Contact
24. (22) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 24, Contact
25. (24) Takuma Sato, Honda, 19, Contact
26. (25) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 18, Contact
27. (16) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 5, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 72.607 mph; Time of race (not counting the two red flags): 2:18:49.8305; Margin of victory: 1.5596 mph; Cautions: 9 for 33 laps; Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers; Lap leaders: Herta 1-32; Ericsson 33-44; Herta 45-51; Grosjean 52-55; Ericsson 56-80

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.

Through 11 races, here are the full points standings for:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Top 10 in the standings: Palou 410, Dixon 368, O’Ward 362, Newgarden 335, Ericsson 331, Rahal 286, Pagenaud 280, Herta 275, VeeKay 263, Sato 231.

NEXT: The NTT IndyCar Series will race Saturday, Aug. 14 (12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the 12th of 16 rounds in the 2021 season (click here for the full broadcast schedule this year).

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
IndyCar
0 Comments

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.”