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After an exciting two-race stretch in Detroit, the stars of the NTT IndyCar Series head to one of the most beautiful race tracks in the country, and one of the most popular races on the schedule each year as the series heads to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for the Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America. Track History & Facts: Road America is a 4.048 mile, fourteen turn road course that has been hosting IndyCar since 1974 with USAC. CART raced at the track from 1982 to 2004, with a brief hiatus until 2006. Since 2008, IndyCar did not return to the track until 2016, and now returns annually to the track. Road America has long straights with great passing opportunities in Turns 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 12. Expect side-by-side racing and fast speeds exceeding 190 miles per hour. Josef Newgarden has the qualifying record at the track with a 1:43.4651. There are five former race winners in the field. Drivers include, Will Power, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden and Sebastian Bourdais. Driver Changes: While last year's race two winner Felix Rosenqvist is on the mend from a nasty wreck in race one of the Chevrolet Grand Prix last week, former Hass F1 driver Kevin Magnussen will be making his IndyCar debut with Arrow Mclaren SP. Oliver Askew will also be coming back again after Rinus Veekay suffered a collarbone injury on a bike ride earlier this week when he returns to Ed Carpenter Racing. Championship Standings: Top 3 Drivers 1. Pato O'Ward - 299 points 2. Alex Palou -1 3. Scott Dixon -36 2020 Event: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was rescheduled to July 11-12. Josef Newgarden won the pole and led 25 laps of the 27 lap green flag run. During a pit stop on lap 30, Newgarden stalled his engine. He fell back to finish 14th. Scott Dixon went on to win the race which was his thrid win of the year. In race two, it was a duel between the now teammates at Arrow Mclaren SP in Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist. Felix saved his tires and passed O'Ward with two to go and went on to a first career victory in the IndyCar Series. Race Predictions: After the horrible weekend for Team Penske last week in Belle Isle, look for them to come in to Road America with something to prove as they look for a first team win in the 2021 campaign. For Arrow Mclaren SP and Pato O'Ward, they have something to prove from their last time here. Coming so close to a win and not being able to close out the deal. Graham Rahal has had a very quiet season and would be a good darkhorse pick for the weekend. But I am going Joesf Newgarden to bring victory to Penske this weekend. Weekend Schedule: IndyCar Practice: Friday at 5:00 P.M. EST on Peacock IndyCar Practice #2: Saturady at 11:00 A.M. EST on Peacock IndyCar Qualifying: Saturday at 2:30 P.M. EST on Peacock IndyCar Final Practice: Saturday at 5:30 P.M. EST on Peacock Rev Group Grand Prix (55 Laps/220.55 Miles): Sunday at Noon EST on NBC Sports Network

The revamped NASCAR video game franchise is set to launch in just a few short months. New information about the game should be right around the corner and I, for one, can not be more excited. Motorsport Games and 704 have promised a more immersive experience than ever before. For some, that might be hard to believe after the last few years have left a bad taste in our mouths. There is a list of features that could be added to make the game better for players. Each person has their own wants for the new game. With that in mind, here are a few features that I would like to see in the newest installment. These features range across all aspects of the game and will be realistic, as Motorsport Games can not do everything in a year or two. -Title Clarity This first one is more of a marketing wish and will most likely be clarified soon. However, fans still are not fully sure about what to even call the new game. Motorsport Games announced the "Heat" name will be dropped, but will the game take on a yearly number as most sports games do. Previously, information was leaked saying the title could be "NASCAR NXT". This is potential, but there has been no confirmation. Personally, I would prefer the game take on a yearly title such as "NASCAR '21". Having clarity about the title would at least give fans a base to work with when talking about the game. -Cover Athlete Like the first feature, this is more of a marketability feature. However, Motorsport Games and NASCAR should use their cover star to showcase who the fans like. Eutechnyx had this right by having fan votes for driver covers. Whether the cover showcases a fan vote winner or not, the cover athlete should be someone who is a great marketable driver for NASCAR and has accomplished things for the sport. Some drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Brad Keselowski have never been on the cover of a game. Other notable drivers to put on the cover are young stars like Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, or Kyle Larson. The cover athlete should not be a money grab as it has been in years past. Instead, it should be a way of showing fans of the game who the key players in the sport are. -Improved Graphics and Physics Before I get into the fun new features, I have to mention this. With a new installment into any franchise, players look for better graphics and physics. The new game engine is a bright light shown upon the game. 704 has done well with this in the past as NASCAR Heat 4 clearly had better graphics and physics than its predecessors. If they can continue that trend each year, then they will continue to have no complaints from me. -Paint Booth/Community Creations This is one of the most asked for features from the community. Admittedly, this is not at the top of my wishlist as I would rather them spend more time making the internals of the game better. However, more customization is not a bad thing. Furthermore, the ability to share those creations would be an amazing addition. Almost every major sports game has some form of community creations. This would be a fun way for players to customize their own paint schemes and even be able to download other schemes and run them. The custom cars in the "Heat" franchise were horribly mistreated and need a serious overhaul in the revamp. -Updated Career Mode I could go on for days about things that I would love to see added into the Career Mode in NASCAR games. Unfortunately, I don't have that much time so I'll try to sum it up. A career mode of any sports game is supposed to fully immerse the player into what it would be like to start a career in that sport. For NASCAR, that immersion has fallen a bit short lately. For starters, the dirt series should be taken out. While a lot of NASCAR drivers have a dirt background, the Xtreme Dirt Tour does not exist in reality. Personally, I would hold still with the three National touring series of NASCAR, but if a fourth were to be added I would add in the Arca Series. It is a clear stepping stone into the top three series of the sport. Furthermore, I would like to see exhibition events happen. NASCAR has an All-Star Race, a Clash, and Duels at Daytona. These are races players would love to participate in. Even the Xfinity Series "Dash 4 Cash" or the "Triple Truck Challenge" would be a great way to get players to experience all the details. Finally, and most importantly, some form of career progression needs to be added into Career Mode. This has been difficult to add since real-life sponsors have not been too keen on seeing their cars driven by other drivers even in a virtual world. But to keep fans interested, it is a necessary addition. Fans of any sport understand that players change teams. Other players retire or get injured. The movement is a key aspect of a NASCAR season. It feels unrealistic for a player to play through 20 seasons of NASCAR Heat and all of the drivers are in the exact same spots they were when they started. Adding in career progression for players and AI is important. This also opens the door for multi-year player contracts, trophy rooms, and multi-car owner mode. -Multiplayer Driver Ratings Some players do not even play career mode. Instead, they spend all their time online. The world of online NASCAR can often not be fun for the casual player. What if a system was implemented to stop that? Online driver ratings would give a driver a rating that could change for better or worse over time. There are multiple criteria that would go into this rating such as clean racing, lap times, and online wins. In addition, the NASCAR multiplayer interface would be separated into three sections: Casual, Competitive, and Private. Casual lobbies would turn off driver ratings, allowing anyone to join a lobby. Competitive lobbies would allow lobby hosts to set a specific driver rating range for which people can join. If your driver rating is not within that range, you would not be able to join that competitive lobby. Lastly, private lobbies would be for those online who want to play with friends or leagues. -League Support Online racing leagues have always been a thing in the gaming community of NASCAR. However, they have seen a spike in popularity. Leagues are where a group of friends, or strangers, can get together and race with each other and prove who has what it takes to be a champion. Many leagues use different point formats, schedules, and rules. I believe that leagues have become popular enough for the game to provide some form of support for them. Project Cars has a system where one can schedule races and even work out the settings for them. This would make life a lot easier for league managers as they go throughout the season. Moreover, Project Cars will even keep points for leagues. Motorsport Games might not be able to accommodate every point format under the sun, but they can set up a custom schedule builder and use different playoff lengths. They have proven this with championship mode in NASCAR Heat 5. Something like this would make leagues run more smoothly. -Communication with Community Overall, I would like to see Motorsport Games keep in touch with their full community. They have an entire internet full of great ideas and advice. Sure some commenters take things too far and others throw out ideas that aren't even fathomable. Most of the community, however, would like to see the games thrive. We play the games because we enjoy racing. Motorsport Games has been fairly open thus far. I hope they can continue to have open ears and open mouths with the entirety of the community. I could go on for hours giving out ideas for future NASCAR games. I do not believe that all of the ideas I have listed will be added to the next game, but I do believe that Motorsport Games has the ability to add these into the next game. Only time will tell what the next installment will have in store for us.

Eight races down. Eight races to go. Which means we have reached the halfway point for the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season, and let me tell you. It has been one of the best seasons that I can remember in a long time. Unlike NASCAR at times, IndyCar this year has put on eight exciting races from start to finish. Seven different winners in eight races, three of them being first time winners, and an exciting class of "veteran" rookie drivers have made 2021 a year so far to never forget. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we here at Racing Refresh.com have some IndyCar awards to give out to drivers, teams and moments that have made this season so great. Most Improved: Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing We all knew entering this year that Palou had the talent to compete with the veterans and heavy-hitters of the IndyCar Series and what a way to kick off the season by taking the first checkered flag of the 2021 campaign with a win at Barber Motorsports Park. Last year, Palou would have a great run one week and followed up with a disappointing finish the next. That may have been rookie mistakes and going this fast was too much for him. But this year has been different with an average finish of 6.5 and only two finishes outside the top ten up to this point. As well as only being one point behind the championship leader of Pato O'Ward, who was also being considered with this award. Look for Palou to be a championship favorite as the season goes on. Most Disappointing: James Hinchcliffe - Andretti Autosport For the self-acclaimed Mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe maybe on the hot seat this year as he has had the most disappointing year so far. With an average finish of 18th and sitting behind Santino Ferruci in points has only made three starts so far this year, James has started in every single one of them with the best finish of 14th on the year. Rookie of the Year (so far) - Romain Grosjean - Dale Conye Racing with Rick Ware This might be the most controversial of awards given out, due in large part to Scott Mclaughlin being the current leader in the rookie of the year standings to this point. But Grosjean has had a phenomenal start to his IndyCar career. With a top 10 finish at Barber to open the season up and follow that with a podium finish and potential win at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in May. At Belle Isle, he had his first two DNFs, one was a spin that took him out of the event and another was a mechanical failure. By adding an oval event to his calendar later in the season at Gateway, it opens the door for Grosjean to compete in a full calendar in 2022. Best Winning Performance - Helio Castroneves - Indianapolis 500 Certainly a favorite moment in all of motor sports was to see "Spider-Man" win his fourth Indianapolis 500 in a duel with one of the young guns in the series. It is a shame that Helio is not racing full time in the series in 2021. He has three races left with the Meyer-Shank Racing team as the series heads west to close out the season later this year. Hopefully in 2022, the team can field a second entry full time for him as he could attempt to get his fifth win. Scariest Moment - Felix Rosenqvist - Stuck Throttle at Chevrolet Grand Prix in Detroit A scary moment during race one of the Chevrolet Grand Prix in Detroit doubleheader was Felix Rosenqvist stuck throttle into turn six. Looking in to the situation, there are numerous failsafe that are programed into the car to prevent a throttle sticking since IndyCar went to the fly-by-wire throttle system that apparently failed. Fortunately, Felix was sent to a hospital with no serious injuries and will come back after the race in Road America. Most Dominating Preformance: Colton Herta at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Colton Herta is one of IndyCar's brightest stars to build on in the future, and he showed that at the second race of the year in St. Petersburg, Florida. Herta led 97 of the 100 laps, which broke the record set by Scott Dixon for most laps led in a single race for a win.

The stars of the NTT IndyCar Series traveled to the motor city for a "lets race two" event in Detroit, for the Chevrolet Grand Prix. An unusual hot and steamy weekend for drivers and their crews around the rough and bumpy street circuit led us to close racing, fast speeds, an incredible wreck, and controversy after two grueling races. Race 1 of the weekend took place on Saturday as Pato O'Ward with his Arrow Mclaren SP Chevrolet took the P1 award and led the field to the green flag. But he didn't keep the lead for long as O'Ward dived to the pis on lap three to get off the Firestone red compound tires. Which handed the lead to Alexander Rossi. With IndyCar rookie Romain Grosjean in P2. After the initial stint of the race after the whole field has cycled through the pit sequence as many drivers did not want to be on the soft compound on the really rough and abrasive surface of the Streets of Belle Isle, we advance to lap 25. Scott Dixon is your race leader followed by James Hichcliffe and Santino Ferrucci. We had our first caution of the day as Felix Rosenqvist slammed hard in to the turn six wall after having a stuck throttle. He was transported to a local hospital with no severe injuries being suffered. After an hour and a half red flag delay, the race restarted on lap 31, Will Power led the field to green. Followed in hot pursuit by Marcus Ericsson. Will Power dominated this race and it was nice to see a rebound from the almost disastrous month of May by being relegated to bump day for Indy 500 qualifying. With seven to go, we had our second and last caution of the day as Romain Grosjean collided with the inside wall, effectively ending his day. IndyCar officials decided to bring the field down pit road and bring the race under red flag conditions. As the field was sitting on pit road, Will Power and his team were asked and got denied fans to cool off the cockpit with other components of the car. With the high temperatures and no air flow, the ECU melted which would not allow him to restart the car. Taking Power from a possible winning day to finishing 20th. Three laps down. Power didn't hold back in his post race comments that NBC did not show as the race went long and there was no post race coverage. Will Power's Post Race Comments The race restarted with three to go with Ericsson leading the way with Rinus Veekay and O'Ward behind him. Ericcson held steady and hit his marks and drove away with his first career win in the NTT IndyCar Series. Joesf Newgarden led the field to green for race two of the Detroit doubleheader. If you tuned in to watch the race, you started watching on lap 40 of the 70 trips around the course. There isn't much to write home about for the first 67 laps of the race as Newgarden led every to that point. On lap 54, Jimmie Johnson got loose and spun in turn two which brought out the second caution of the day. A few laps later on lap 59, Romain Grosjean went off track and his front brake rotors caught on fire which ended his day. During that span the field was brought under red flag while the incident was being cleared up. Going back under green with seven laps to go, Newgarden was your leader but was on old Firestone red compound tires while Pato O'Ward was on the black, harder compound. With three laps to go, O'Ward passed Newgarden and drove out to a five-second lead as he went on to take the victory in race two of the Doubleheader. For O'Ward, it was his second win of the year, vaulted him atop the championship standings by one point over Alex Palou entering this weekend's race at Road America.

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(Kyle Larson celebrates in victory lane at Sonoma Raceway) https://twitter.com/TheLTFiles/status/1401690984358944770?s=20 Kyle Larson has found a hot streak! after his stage and race sweep of the Coca Cola 600 last weekend, the Elk Grove, California native doubles down at his home track pulling off another sensational race winning every stage plus the race win in the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. This marks his third win of the year and thus putting him in 1st in playoff seeding. This is not only Hendrick Motorsports fourth consecutive win but fourth in a row of finishing both first and second, which no team has accomplished since the 1950's. Is Larson a new favourite at road courses? with an average finish of 15.2 over 17 career starts on these types of race tracks is almost twice the average finish of teammate Chase Elliott of 8.3 who finished second to Larson. It is not far fetched to say he is a favourite given how he has excelled at every track on the schedule so far this season, but Elliott is still the man to beat. After not being at Sonoma since the 2019 season and with no practice nor qualifying, past experience starts to shine. With guys like Martin Truex Jr. Joey Logano and Kyle Busch finishing rounding out the top five, no one there was no real surprises at the end then. Corey Lajoie had made the top 10 through out the race before being spun in the final stage of race, he would finish a 18th respectably. Both Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez had what would have been great finishes for them but in two got tangled up in separate incidents resulting in disappointing days. Heading into the All-Star race with the number one playoff seed, and 10 races remaining before the playoffs begin, is it possible for this to be Larson's most dominate season to date? Toyota Save Mart 350 Top 5: 1. Kyle Larson 2. Chase Elliott 3. Martin Truex Jr 4. Joey Logano 5. Kyle Busch Notables of the Day: 7. Ross Chastain 12. Daniel Suarez 18. Corey Lajoie 37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Written By: Matt Marr

After coming off an historic Indianapolis 500 where Heilo Castroneves won for a record tying fourth time, the stars of the NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Motor City for the Chevrolet Grand Prix - Duel in Detroit this weekend. After a double points event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Alex Palou enjoys a 36 point lead over Scott Dixon in the championship standings. Event History: IndyCar has come to the temporary street circuit ever since 1992 back before the CART/IndyCar merger in the 2000s. The first race was won by Bobby Rahal in his lighting fast Lola T9200. CART continued to go to Detroit until 2001. In 2007, the Indy Racing League returned for two years until a three-year hiatus from 2009 until 2011. The series returned in 2012 and the doubleheader format was picked up the following year and has been the race after the 500 ever since. Joesf Newgarden set the qualifying record in 2017 with a lap at 1:14.2062 long. Track Facts: The Grand Prix circuit at Belle Isle is a 2.35 mile, fourteen turn street course that sits on an island on the Detroit River. It has great views of the Detroit skyline and scenic views into Canada. Belle Isle is one of the tightest street circuits on the course in terms of the racing line itself. The main opportunities are actually the first section of turns one through three. Outside of those turns, passing may be hard to come by. Last Event: Due to the pandemic, the 2020 Detroit Grand Prix was canceled. But in 2019, during a very wet weekend in Detroit. In race one, Joesf Newgarden dominated with Alexander Rossi being in hot pursuit. In race two, Scott Dixon took another very dominating win while the eventual champion in Newgarden finished 21 laps down. Race Preview: With all the talk about the amount of young talent getting faster and faster each week, Belle Isle offers numerous challenges. With high temps expected and a lot of sunshine on the slipper surface of the race track, look for the veterans to step up this weekend and show them that they still got it. Outside of a third place run at the Indy 500, Simon Pagenaud has had a relatively quiet season. He is a former winner at the track and I expect for him to return to his winning ways at Detroit as he takes race one. Race two will be a different story as confidence gets higher, so look for Colton Herta to take race two in what I believe will be a closer battle. You can catch all the action on Saturday at 2:00 P.M. EST and Noon Est on Sunday on NBC. All qualifying and practice sessions, as well as Indy Lights, will be exclusive to Peacock.