by Lee Spencer

Sources have told FOXSports.com that the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway will likely play host to the IRL IndyCar Series season finale and their championship banquet beginning next season.

When reached for comment, the IRL denied that a final decision had been made.

"The IRL is in discussions with Speedway Motorsports Inc. (owner of LVMS) and we are exploring all of our options regarding a finale date," said IRL Vice President of Public Relations John Griffin. "No final decision has been made."

The switch of finale dates from Chicagoland Speedway to LVMS is just one of many changes that are possible for the 2009 schedule, which is slated to be released later this month or at the beginning of August according to series officials. With this year's reunification of America's two open-wheel series — IndyCar and the now defunct Champ Car World Series — the new schedule is expected to contain a mixture of ovals, street and road courses.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., the owner of LVMS, could have as many as five races on the schedule — Vegas and New Hampshire Motor Speedway are candidates to join Texas Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Infineon Raceway.

"Negotiations are still ongoing, but there is no deal yet," said Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage when reached for comment about the SMI deals.

Chicagoland Speedway has hosted the IndyCar Series season finale since 2006.