INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006 – The IndyCar Series will return to the 1.5-mile ovals at Texas Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway in 2007, bringing the confirmed number of races to six.

The IndyCar® Series’ annual stop at Texas will be held on Saturday, June 9, while Kentucky Speedway’s 300-mile race will be run on Saturday, Aug. 11 as a twilight event for the first time. A 100-mile Indy Pro Series™ race will be held in conjunction with the IndyCar Series event at Kentucky.

“It is exciting to give fans of the IndyCar Series a Midwest option to watch our drivers and cars under the lights now that we have a new time slot for the Kentucky Speedway,” said Brian Barnhart, the president and COO of the Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body for the IndyCar Series and Indy Pro Series. “And of course we are thrilled to continue the tradition of prime-time racing at Texas Motor Speedway, where Eddie Gossage and his team have done so much to build an anchor in our schedule.”

Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval located in Sparta, Ky., has hosted IndyCar Series racing since 2000 and was site of the second-fastest IndyCar Series race in 2003. The track is one of the most competitive in series history with five race winners and seven polesitters in seven events. Among the pole sitters are Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick, the only female pole winners in IndyCar Series history.

“The time change is what we needed for this event,” Kentucky Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Mark F. Cassis said. “While we truly benefited and were extremely grateful to be able to showcase our venue and marketplace through the ABC national television broadcasts in past seasons, we think our fans will truly enjoy seeing high-speed Indy cars circling our speedway in the evening. “A twilight start also will provide us the opportunity to complement the race with elements our fans have come to expect such as a post race concert or fireworks show to create a complete evening of family entertainment.”

Kentucky Speedway will become one of a handful of facilities nationwide to host all of its major league racing events under the lights. The IndyCar Series had prime-time races at Texas Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway in 2006 and will return for another prime-time event at Texas Motor Speedway, located in Fort Worth, Texas.

The IndyCar Series activity begins on Thursday, June 7 with qualifying and returns on June 9 with the drivers and cars of the Indianapolis 500 battling in the Bombardier Learjet 500k, “America’s Original Nighttime IndyCar Race.”

“We’re still working on a couple of items that will make this schedule even more enticing to the fans, and we will be announcing those plans down the road,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “Expect to see some tweaks that make this event even more fun for the fans.”

The IndyCar Series previously announced that it would race at the Milwaukee Mile on June 3, it would return to the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., for the third Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 1 and race from the first time at Iowa Speedway on June 24. The 91st Indianapolis 500-Mile Race will be held on May 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The remainder of the 2007 IndyCar Series schedule will be announced at a later date.

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