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After a thrilling opening round of the NTT Indy Car Series at Barber Motorsports Park last Sunday, which saw Chip Ganassi driver Alex Palou take his first career IndyCar win. The series heads to the tight confines of the Streets of St. Petersburg for the first street course race of the 2021 season. Event History: While there has been racing in St. Petersburg, Florida since 1985, the series had been racing on the current layout of the Grand Prix course since 2003, back before the CART/IndyCar merger in 2008. The first win was taken by Forsythe Racing and Paul Tracy. After a hiatus in 2004, the series returned in 2005, and the event was won by Dan Wheldon. There are five current drivers in the series who have won at St. Petersburg. Joesf Newgarden has won the last two times here in 2019 and 2020. Joining him are the likes of Will Power, Graham Rahal, James Hinchcliff, and Sebastian Bourdais. Track Facts: The Streets of St. Petersburg is a 1.8 mile, 14 turn road course that has 5 right turns and 9 left-hand turns that incorporates some downtown roads of St. Petersburg and a runway of the nearby Albert Whitted Airfield. That section of the runway is the widest part of the racetrack that also holds the pits and paddock area for teams to use. This track has three main passing opportunities. A heavy braking zone into turn one, where a driver can start a pass and complete it as they exit the turns one and two right-left switchbacks. Coming out of two, there is a kink that is listed as turn three, but the next main opportunity to pass is the heavy braking zone of turn four, a sharp 90-degree right-hand corner which leads into the more technical and tight turns five through nine. Coming out of turn nine leads you on to the longest section of the course, which leads to the third hard-braking zone of turn ten. After that, the course leads on to Dan Wheldon Way (Turns 11,12, and 13), which leads into a carousel of turns thirteen and fourteen, which completes a lap at St. Petersburg. 2020 Event : The 2020 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which was originally intended to be the inaugural race of the season, was postponed until the last race of the season, which saw Josef Newgarden take his second straight win at the track and his fourth win for the 2020 season. As this being the championship race of the season, the championship came down to a battle between Newgarden and Scott Dixon. Even though Newgarden won the race that gave out double points, the third-place finish of Dixon secured his sixth IndyCar Series Championship. Race Prediction: For this weekend of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, I think you would have to start with Josef Newgarden. As previously mentioned, Newgarden has won the past two times the series comes to town and in impressive fashion last year by having a margin of victory of 4.5 seconds over second-place Pato O'Ward. Which leaves me to the young Mexican driver. O'Ward has shown speed last year at this race and was the fastest car last week at Barber, but once caught in traffic it seemed he just couldn't find passing opportunities. But also look out for the veteran Will Power, who finished second last week, but is the fastest car in the Penske stable right now. But my prediction may not come out of left field to you, it's not even a surprise. I think Josef Newgarden makes it three in a row this weekend in St. Petersburg. Weekend Schedule: On-track activity in preparation for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins on Friday afternoon for the first practice session. Moving to Saturday, we will see the final full practice session and qualifying as well as Indy Lights Race 1. On Sunday, we will have IndyCar warmup as the last chance to adjust the car. Then moving on to Indy Lights Race 2. Then at Noon Est, Coverage will begin for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on NBC. You can catch Indy Lights, practice, and qualifying on NBC's streaming service Peacock.

According to a press release from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 will have fans in a limited capacity. Which will be around 135,000 spectators that will be on hand for the Memorial Day event. “The city and state have worked with us to identify the appropriate health and safety precautions so that we can successfully host a limited but very enthusiastic crowd. The health and safety of everyone coming to IMS, along with Central Indiana and the Hoosier State, have been paramount throughout this process.” “The number-one thing fans can do to ensure a great race day is get vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Penske Entertainment president & CEO Mark Miles added. “We continue to offer vaccinations at IMS and will be extending our mass vaccination clinic throughout the Month of May. This is all part of the effort to continue getting Indiana back on track.” In addition to the limited attendance for the Indy 500, further health and safety measures will be in place such as masks required for entry and for the event itself. Spectator viewing mounds in the infield will be closed throughout the Month of May. No race day General Admission tickets will be sold. IMS will also be holding vaccination days on April 24-30th. With select dates from May 1st to the 27th. Fans who do not have tickets who are still interested in attending can still apply online at IMS.com. Tickets for all on-track events for preparations leading up to the Indianapolis 500 are still available. Because no concerts will be held, the concerts on Carb Day, Legends Day, and Race Day have all been cancelled. More details about Indy 500 procedures or news or spectators can be found on IMS.com/planahead. For more IndyCar news throughout the 2021 season, stay tuned to RacingRefresh.com

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR)

Alex Palou jumps in jubilation after his first-career victory (Chris Owens/IndyCar). After a long off-season, IndyCar is back. A big crash, a first time winner, and strategy all played out on a Sunday afternoon for the NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. What an interesting first race we had as the season opener. About 30 seconds into the race, Josef Newgarden got loose coming up out of turn four and clipped his right rear into the grass, which caused the biggest on-track incident of the day. Five cars were involved in the accident, for Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay, it caused the two championship favorites for 2021 to retire from the event. Which would not be a good start to the season for those two, but early enough in the season where they can recover points as the season progresses. When we finally went back under green on lap 8, Pato O'Ward and Alexander Rossi were easily the contenders early on. O'Ward, who started on pole for Sunday's race, did not like his car on the red alternate tires very early on as Rossi applied the pressure, but could not seem to make the pass on the young Spanish driver. Working lap 10 is when we saw our second and final caution of the day by 2021 NTT IndyCar Series rookie of the year contender, and the former seven-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson. Who spun coming out of turn 13 in a single-car incident that saw him lock the brakes without making contact to the outside wall. Johnson would go on to finish 19th, three laps down. Once back under green, Rossi and O'Ward made pit stops on lap 19. O'Ward won the race of pit road and made some distance on Rossi after that stop. Which means that O'Ward and the Arrow Mclaren SP team have made their bed by taking the undercut and making this race a scheduled three stop race, while some other contenders would be shooting for a two stop race. On lap 19, Alex Palou, the second year driver for Chip Gannasi Racing, took the lead and had a 2.7 second lead over Will Power. Some time has passed as we reach the one third of the scheduled race distance of 90 laps. Palou extended his lead to 6.6 seconds over Will Power. Moving on to the rest of the top 5 at this time we have in thrid place is Scott Dixion, in forth Marcus Erricson, and in fifth place, rookie of the year contender Roman Grosjean. Moving on to lap 37 after a sequence of green flag stops, Sebastian Bordais is now the leader, but we have to go back to the battle for third place as O'Ward passed Palou coming out of turn six. When this happened, Palou was given his fuel number to ensure that he can make it on the two stop strategy that his team played into. Coming to complete this lap, Bordais and second place Rinus Veekay made their second pit stop of that day. Which allowed O'Ward to finally regain the lead on lap 38. But O'Ward didn't keep the lead long as with 48 laps to go, O'Ward made his second pit stop of the day, which gave the lead back to Palou, who again tried to stick to his two stop strategy. Which opened his lead over Power up to 10 seconds. Then just as that was happening, we saw some tempers flare between Bordais and O'Ward as they both made slight contact which dropped O'Ward from 5th to 7th on the track. Unfortantely for O'Ward, even thought there was no visible damage on his car. He would never see clean air again for the rest of the race as he went on to finish 4th. A solid day, but an obvious disappointing day for the young driver for the Arrow Mclaren SP team. We move on with 10 laps to go in the Grand Prix of Alabama. The battle for the win started coming down to the young driver of Alex Palou and the veteran Will Power. Who outnumbered his push to pass reserve over Palou with 104 seconds remaining for Power. 61 seconds remaining for Palou. As the laps tricked down, Power did manage to close the gap with aide from lap traffic and his remaining reserve of push to pass but that was not enough as Alex Palou did manage to hold on and get his first career NTT IndyCar Series win. The margin of victory was .514 seconds over Will Power. For Palou, he joins Michael Andretti and Dan Wheldon as drivers who have won in their debut with Chip Gannssi Racing. It was also his first win in fifteen career starts and the fourteenth different driver to win for CGR. For Chip Gannssi, it was their 114th IndyCar series victory and his first at Barber Motorsports Park. This Sunday, The NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Streets of St. Petersburg for the second race of the year. You can catch all the action Sunday on NBC. Keep up with IndyCar news throughout the week and for the rest of the season on Racing Refresh.com Collin Best @TheCollinBest

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR_Trucks)

(Left to Right: Kevin Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer) After a record setting season for Kevin Harvick in which he won 9 races in 2020...and a Rookie of the year winner in Cole Custer, it seems that Stewart-Haas Racing may have some work to do in 2021. The 2020 season showed us that oldest driver in the field (45 years of age, Kevin Harvick) is still a championship caliber Cup series driver, but how does the rest of the current SHR stable stack up? Is each driver capable of making the playoffs? Obviously that question will be answered closer to the start of the playoffs come September. The organization as a whole seems to be going through a period commonly referred to in stick and ball sports as a rebuilding period. Perhaps aging veterans Harvick and Almirola are at the end of their prime performance, I believe the focus now shifts to helping SHR's rising stars Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe to become contenders and carry the team to future championships. New tracks on the schedule such as Circuit of the Americas, Road America, The Indianapolis Road Course should play right into the wheelhouse of Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe especially given their past road course experience and success as well. The teams have not proven to be a threat to win the championship, but all I can say with 18 races remaining until the playoffs begin is do not count them out. With some good luck and mistake free races anything can happen to be in contention. Written by: Matt Marr

The age of technology has taken over! The world has changed in many aspects from business to education to entertainment. I'd like to focus on the latter of those three. The entertainment world is now being dominated by a new industry. In 2019, the video game industry brought in over $145 Billion in revenue (statista.com). This was over three times the revenue brought in by the second-highest industry, movies, which brought in $42.5 Billion. According to gameindustry.biz, over three-quarters of all U.S. households have at least one person who regularly plays video games. This stat even includes 61 percent of adults who now say they regularly play video games. It's safe to say the gaming era is upon us. One of the most popular genres of video games is the sports video game genre. These are simulation-style video games that often follow the seasons and patterns of a popular sports organization. The sports game genre is ranked by masterclass.com as the eighth most popular video game genre currently. Sports games give the player a feeling of what it would be like if they were truly out on the field for games such as football and baseball or even on the court for basketball and tennis. NASCAR video games are a bit different though. While there are those who play the game strictly for a fun time, there are some players who have taken it a bit further than that. NASCAR drivers even practice on simulation racing games such as iRacing. Console versions of NASCAR games are a bit more casual than that, but there are still some people who get into the sport and learn it simply by playing the games. However, NASCAR video games have taken a bit of a dip in popularity over the last decade or so. NASCAR games have suffered from the lack of a steady company to produce them. The licensing for the games has been tossed around by multiple companies over the last couple of decades. There has not been a solid publisher/developer for the NASCAR games since EA dropped the series back in 2009. However, some light at the end of the tunnel has been made apparent recently as 704 Games has come onto the scene. 704 is formerly known as Dusenberry Martin Racing and acquired the NASCAR license in 2015. A smaller gaming company than the giants of EA and Eutechnyx, both of which previously held the rights to NASCAR gaming, 704 embarked on a journey to bring NASCAR games to the next generation of consoles. And thus, the NASCAR Heat series was born. The NASCAR Heat franchise of games has received its fair share of criticism from the NASCAR gaming community. The NASCAR Heat series severely lacked in terms of features and physics and overall smooth gameplay, especially when compared to the games brought by the bigger companies in years prior. One might read this recent past and think, "How does this show any light at the end of the tunnel?" 704 games, like the rest of the world, have gone through a lot of changes amidst this pandemic. The largest of which is the partnership with Motorsport Games, a company that originated in the UK but has been hard at work expanding their outreach. The new NASCAR video game, dubbed by fans as NASCAR '21, has every possibility to completely change the trajectory of the franchise and erase the bad taste left in the mouth of the community after the Heat series. With a devoted developing and publishing team, a new game engine being used to develop the game, and a brand new generation of gaming consoles at their disposal, NASCAR '21 has all the tools to be a top-tier sports game. Motorsport Games has gotten acquisitions such as Studio 397, which produces the rFactor games. NASCAR Games are also looking to be made with the Unreal Engine in the future. Major games such as Fortnite, Kingdom Hearts III, and Minecraft: Dungeons have all been made with the Unreal Engine. Motorsport Games director of design and development, Paul Coleman, mentioned that the upcoming NASCAR title has been in the works for over two years now. NASCAR '21 is getting the attention it deserves and has all the tools to be the redeeming title for the franchise. What exactly does NASCAR '21 need to be the great redeemer of NASCAR games? The answer to that question might be different for different people. However, there are many features that have been asked for by the large majority of the NASCAR gaming community. Improvement of graphics and physics should always be a concern for a game developer. Paul Coleman said that Motorsport Games really wanted to focus on the "simulation" aspect of NASCAR games. If that is the case, then the graphics and physics do require some improvements, and the Unreal Engine should be able to bring that. Another feature being asked for is a fully customizable paint booth within the NASCAR games. Fans want the ability to express themselves on the track and having a fully customizable paint booth would allow them that opportunity. One of the biggest aspects of any NASCAR game is the Career mode. This mode has not seen very many new additions within the last few years. Many fans have suggested adding in NASCAR's silly season, exhibition races, and driver progression/retirements as a way of adding more realism to the game. The developers could even add in a career clock for a player to make their game more real. A rising feature of NASCAR games is online leagues. These aren't like the Pro League guys, but rather the group of guys who meet up and decide to run for some fun, points, and pride. Online leagues are becoming such a big thing that developers could really help them out by adding in a points/stats keeper. Also, online fighting games such as Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty have added skill-based matchmaking to their online public lobbies. This is a system where players are entered into lobbies based on an internal system calculating a driver's skill level. NASCAR games could potentially implement a system like this. Drivers could be loaded into lobbies with similar driver ratings and it would avoid those hardcore racers getting put into lobbies with wreck fest racers. There are plenty of options on the table to make NASCAR '21 and beyond a redemption story for NASCAR gaming. Motorsport games and 704 have both shown their devotion and commitment to the franchise. The new acquisitions by Motorsport games have given the game the internal tools and equipment needed to produce something great. I am personally excited to see what the future holds for NASCAR games. We might just look back on NASCAR '21 and think of NASCAR's Redemption Story.