(Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Aaron Bearden

For five races and 60 laps at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IndyCar iRacing Challenge was exactly what it needed to be. 

Entertaining. Aggressive. Silly and controversial at times, but ultimately sportsmanlike and fun. 

But the last 10 laps of Saturday’s finale brought the tour’s momentum to a screeching halt just when it seemed poised to be wrapped up without any major issues, ending the fun series with a sour taste that’ll make it’s legacy a difficult one to remember fondly. 

The six-race virtual IndyCar tour was launched with the best of intentions, joining many other esports ventures to provide entertainment and a small sense of normalcy amid the life-altering COVID-19 pandemic. 

For about 90 minutes each week, the stars of IndyCar mixed with a handful of surprise entrants with the sole purpose of entertaining fans. Series officials mixed standard tracks in with a few former circuits from the tour. Many drivers streamed their runs on Twitch, engaging with their supporters and allowing a close look into their personalities and styles that is rarely offered in the paddock. 

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson joined the series in the opening weeks, giving himself a virtual head start on his planned real-life IndyCar endeavors post-NASCAR. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a one-off appearance with the tour at virtual Michigan International Speedway, giving fans the previously-inconceivable sight of an Earnhardt-driven No. 3 Dallara, and even scoring a shocking podium when a pit strategy move went his way. 

Kyle Busch made an appearance at Twin Ring Motegi, and Supercars competitor Chaz Mostert joined for a trip around Circuit of the Americas (COTA). 

Other wildcard entries proved highly competitive. Defending Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin made his virtual IndyCar debut in a year where he anticipated making a real-life start on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He was instantly a contender, winning the second race at Barber Motorsports Park.

McLaren Formula 1 competitor Lando Norris was added to the grid at COTA and proved to be the quickest competitor, claiming pole and overcoming a spin to win the race. Journeyman racer Scott Speed couldn’t join Norris and McLaughlin as a winner, but proved fast in a handful of starts. 

The group joined a host of IndyCar regulars to put on shows that largely seemed authentic and engaging. 

Sage Karam dominated the first race at Watkins Glen International from pole – a feel-good moment for a driver that’s been fighting for a real-life opportunity. 

The win came amid a race that mostly seemed lifelike. There were a few noticeable differences, sure. Real-life stars without sim experience struggled, a few of the crashes seemed a bit overblown and the lack of cautions for them was a culture shock for fans of the real races. 

But the racecraft itself carried a certain aura of realism and helped propel the tour to NBCSN for its second race after it gathered decent viewership and NASCAR put on an enjoyable eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series opener at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. 

The following four weeks provided races that proved serviceable in the absence of real racing. 

Barber saw another unusual winner in McLaughlin but looked about as realistic as Watkins Glen had the prior week. Michigan started with a messy opening crash that imitated the infamous start of the US 500 in 1996 but played out into an enthralling fuel-mileage thriller in the closing laps that ended with Simon Pagenaud claiming a win that was popular at the time. 

Motegi saw the biggest controversy to date when an eager move from the lap-down Oliver Askew essentially eliminated leaders Will Power and McLaughlin in the closing laps. But an intense final lap between Pagenaud and Scott Dixon ultimately overshadowed the incident, providing a dramatic conclusion between two champions that would have been believable on the real track. 

Throw in Norris’ spirited recovery effort at COTA, and IndyCar found itself on the verge of executing a beloved six-week tour that left fans feeling good about the series heading into a depressing Month of May without the Indianapolis 500. While NASCAR had seen one driver lose a sponsor and another lose his ride – though the latter incident came in a special event and not the Pro Invitational Series itself – IndyCar had delivered five weeks of entertainment without serious controversy. 

They just needed to get through one more week, and played it up to be a big one. Looking to fill the void of this empty May, drivers selected Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the dream track they wanted to close the series at. 

The virtual tour quickly turned into a near-replica of the 500, locking in entries and setting a Field of 33 with a bump day on Wednesday that saw drivers like Busch and James Hinchcliffe fail to qualify. Provisionals were offered to full-time competitors, previous iRacing winners and Indy 500 champions, allowing drivers like Norris, McLaughlin and Helio Castroneves a shot at a virtual Indy win. 

Many things were different from the real-life race. The event was only 175 miles, or 70 laps. Competitors had to start two-wide due to the iRacing software, missing out on the traditional three-wide beginning. The electricity of the real race couldn’t be felt in the air, either – there was no playing of “Taps,” or singing of “Back Home Again in Indiana.” 

The IndyCar iRacing Challenge wrapped up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Arrow McLaren SP found its drivers among the contenders. (Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

But coming at Indianapolis, it was assumed that drivers would race hard to bring home a win, and they lived up to expectation.

The majority of the race played out in predictably exciting fashion, with numerous lead changes and a few different pit strategies. But the caution flag flew with just 12 laps remaining, setting the field up for an ending that would prove to be more chaotic than any could have hoped. 

Pagenaud led the field to green on the final restart, holding the spot with just nine laps remaining after a well-played pit strategy. Graham Rahal followed on a similar strategy, while Norris led those that had pitted twice in fourth. 

Rahal overtook Pagenaud on the first lap of the run, and Norris passed Felix Rosenqvist behind them for third. Pagenaud got a run on Rahal and passed him back on the ensuing lap, but Rahal returned with a charge of his own when the pair got to the front stretch. 

They went through Turn 1 and into the short-chute side-by-side for the lead. 

Then suddenly they found that they had company. 

Norris dove under Rahal with a three-wide move that appeared to catch the veteran off guard. Whether due to netcode, contact or just the surprise of the moment, Rahal shot up the track in Turn 2 and collided with Pagenaud. The pair crashed. 

Just like that, they were out of the running. 

That left Norris to battle with Arrow McLaren SP teammates Askew and Patricio O’Ward. The IndyCar duo challenged their F1 teammate multiple times, but Norris was able to maintain the top spot heading into the closing laps. 

He seemed poised to take home a second virtual IndyCar victory when a slow car ahead essentially stopped in Turn 4 and gave him no option but to crash.

The driver was Pagenaud – out for revenge after Norris’ risky overtake for the lead. 

While viewers tried to come to terms with what had just occurred, the new leaders entered the final lap of the race. They quickly set about causing another round of chaos. 

Askew and O’Ward battled for the lead down the backstretch, but suddenly found themselves both outdone by Marcus Ericsson, who surged inside of them with a three-wide dive shortly before Turn 3 to take over the top spot. 

O’Ward tried to retaliate with a move of his own in Turn 4, but collided with Ericsson and took them both out of contention. 

That left Askew in the lead heading down the front stretch, but even he wasn’t safe. Santino Ferrucci was right behind the incoming rookie, lunged outside of him and, instead of trying to inch past him at the start-finish line in a photo finish, elected to intentionally crash Askew in a move he hoped would steal him the win. 

It didn’t. 

McLaughlin snuck by them both to score an improbable victory after running fifth moments earlier. Conor Daly followed him for second and laughed heartily to the delight of his Twitch viewers, while Ferrucci wrecked across the line in third. The rest of the field shunted in ludicrous fashion as they all streaked across the line and into the crashed cars. 

What followed was a messy post-race that saw the majority of the month’s progress undone. 

Pagenaud first claimed he’d meant to pit, then later told Norris that he meant only to slow him up. But a review of the Indy 500 champion’s stream showed him boast about returning to the track to wreck Norris shortly before doing it. 

He went on to make a tongue-in-cheek tweet about the lack of patience behind the wheel of drivers in the field, seemingly hinting at the bold move Norris had made that resulted in the crash between Pagenaud and Rahal. 

Norris ranted to his fanbase about Pagenaud’s antics, discussing the hours of effort he and his team had put into perfecting virtual oval racing for the event only to watch it undone. That kicked off an age-old spat between F1 and IndyCar fans, with ardent supporters of each backing their drivers while those in the middle shook their heads in disgust at the ridiculousness of the whole affair. 

Ferrucci seemed to try to skirt around the intentional nature of his crash with Askew coming to the line, but a review of his stream all-but proved that he’d wrecked the rookie intentionally. Called out on the move in the immediate aftermath, he noted that it was “just a video game” and shrugged it off.

Askew’s disappointment was evident, but he took the high road on social media and asked Ferrucci for a glass of milk. 

While overshadowed by the other incidents, Ericsson and O’Ward weren’t free from anger, either. Ericsson sarcastically praised O’Ward for the move, and O’Ward called him out in response. 

Debate raged on into the night between both IndyCar and F1 fans, with groups defending various drivers, ranting about the controversy of the whole ordeal and disagreeing about the seriousness of the iRacing product altogether. 

That last point seems to be the biggest struggle in this entire stretch for IndyCar and other racing tours. 

For some in each field, this has been a serious opportunity to compete, represent sponsors and add value during an otherwise challenging time. For others it was essentially a video game – and one that they may have felt pressured to play or, in their fans’ case, watch. 

That dichotomy between playful fun and seriousness defined this whole stretch, particularly for IndyCar. 

Will this iRacing experiment matter in three months, when the motorsports world is (hopefully) back in action worldwide and scrambling through condensed seasons? 

The answer, for the most part, is no. While far more realistic than most esports options based on real-life sports, the iRacing simulation software still lacks a certain degree of realistic feel and is treated as such. These races won’t carry major bearing moving forward, nor will their winners likely gain any sizable advantage outside of a bit of added attention.

But to say there won’t be some real-life repercussions from this time isn’t totally accurate, either. 

The closing segment of Saturday’s race likely altered the opinion of many F1 fans about Pagenaud, and perhaps even a few IndyCar followers’ perspectives of Norris. For F1 fans that causally tuned in to see Norris run Indianapolis, the odds of them taking IndyCar and its stars seriously dropped tremendously in the closing laps. 

Ferrucci’s last moments undid a some of the goodwill he’d gained in his rookie IndyCar season after a controversial exit from Formula 2, and may have cost him some respect from the fanbase and in the paddock – though that’s not possible to quantify at the moment. Others that had unnecessary incidents along the way may fight through similar perception issues when racing returns. 

The NTT IndyCar Series put on an enjoyable six-week virtual tour and that shouldn’t be forgotten. In a time where so much of normal life is shut down and days can be bleak, the series gave open-wheel fans entertaining races that they could sink their teeth into. 

But in the end, the video game nature of the software proved to be its undoing. Without any perceived real repercussions, two stars of the series engaged in moments of questionable character and sportsmanship that iRacing executive vice president and executive producer Steve Myers admitted “made a mockery of a great opportunity for the series and iRacing.” 

Real or not, that may take some time for both IndyCar and iRacing to undo.

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Aaron Bearden Featured IndyCar iRacing Challenge