IRL Follow

The hopes of New Hampshire Motor Speedway general manager and executive vice president Jerry Gappens to have the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series return to the 1.058-mile oval in 2009 will not come to fruition. The IRL will release its 2009 IndyCar Series schedule Wednesday, but a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will not be part of it according to a source close to the situation. Gappens had been in negotiations with officials from the IRL since the Spring about securing a date on their schedule. Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. - the company that bought NHMS from Bob Bahre prior to this season - said in June that he also had Texas Motor Speedway general manager Eddie Gossage working to convince the IRL that they needed to return to New Hampshire.