Dixon is PointsBet favorite at Gateway Raceway

Scott Dixon is the early PointsBet Bommarito Automotive Group 500 favorite at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for the August 21 race on the 1.25-mile track (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

Dixon has one previous win in 2021, which came in the first race of the Texas Motor Speedway doubleheader this May. He is listed at +625. Dixon finished fourth in the second race at Texas, but in the only other oval course event this season, he finished 17th in the Indy 500.

One way to view American Odds is to move the decimal point two positions to the left. That will let a bettor know what they will make on a $1 bet, so the return on investment this week for Dixon is $6.25. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.

Pato O’Ward is ranked second with odds of +650. O’Ward won Race 2 at Texas, the first of his IndyCar career, and in three starts on ovals this season he is the only driver to have swept the top five. He was fourth in the Indy 500. O’Ward scored his second win in the second race at Belle Isle, but since then he has just one top-five in four starts on road courses.

Ranked third is Josef Newgarden with a line of +725. In 12 races this season, Newgarden has nine top-10 finishes. Five of these, including a victory at Mid-Ohio, were in the top five. Newgarden’s best oval finish so far in 2021 was a second to O’Ward in Texas 2. Newgarden won Race 2 of the Gateway doubleheader last year and has another win on this track in 2017.

Colton Herta ranks fourth at +800. He has only one top-15 finish in three oval races this year, but made the most of it with a fifth in the second Texas race. That has been the tenor of his season. In 12 IndyCar starts, Herta has five top-fives and no other top-10s.

Rounding out the top five is last week’s winner Will Power. His victory on the IMS road course was his fifth top-10 of 2021 and his second podium finish in the last four races. His other two starts in the last four events ended outside the top 10 with a 25th at Mid-Ohio and a 14th at on the Streets of Nashville. Power has not yet cracked the top 10 on an oval this season with a best of 14th in Texas 1.

No other driver has better than 10/1 odds.

A dark horse of note is Takuma Sato, listed at +2200. Sato won the 2019 Gateway race and was ninth earlier this season in Texas 1. Sato’s long odds for the outright win drag those for a top-three to +650.

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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.”

Scott Dixon is PointsBet favorite for World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway

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

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