This week the Indy Racing League released their 2009 schedule and there are a number of changes to note. The 2009 season kicks off with the Streets of St. Petersburg and then finishes at Homestead. Leaving Florida as the bookend state landing these unique slots.

Credit: Indycar.com

Similar to the 2008 year, 2009’s schedule is listing 18 races. There are some new faces, some deletions and some big changes.

New in 2009 is a Toronto race (Streets of Toronto) adding the second race for Canada. Although Toronto is new to Indy, it’s definitely well known to the people of Toronto and team owner Michael Andretti. Andretti has won Toronto seven times since its 1986 inauguration. Also new to 2009 is the Long Beach event (Streets of Long Beach). Adding this race will continue 33 years of racing tradition and put another great road course in the mix.

Home to Danica’s first victory, the Twin Ring Motegi will be moving nearer to the end of the pack with a scheduled date of September 19 (vs the April 19 date in 2008).

The Gold Coast Indy (Australia) is not yet on the schedule, but the buzz is that they are trying to formalize a date change. With Australia likely coming back the only casualty appears to be the event in Nashville (this year’s Firestone Indy 200).

As with any schedule always check for updates on this site’s Motorsport Race Schedule page or on the IndyCar website.

Here’s your identified venues for the 2009 IndyCar Season:

• Sun 5-Apr Streets of St. Petersburg (1.8-mile street course)
• Sun 19-Apr Streets of Long Beach (1.968-mile street course)
• Sun 26-Apr Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Sun 24-May Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
• Sun 31-May The Milwaukee Mile (1.0-mile oval)
• Sat 6-Jun Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Sun 21-Jun Iowa Speedway (.875-mile oval)
• Sat 27-Jun Richmond International Raceway (.75-mile oval)
• Sun 5-Jul Watkins Glen International (3.4-mile road course)
• Sun 12-Jul Streets of Toronto (1.721-mile street course)
• Sun 26-Jul Edmonton City Centre Airport (1.973-mile airport course)
• Sat 1-Aug Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Sun 9-Aug Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2.258-mile road course)
• Sun 23-Aug Infineon Raceway (2.245-mile road course)
• Sat 29-Aug Chicagoland Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Sun 6-Sep The Raceway at Belle Isle Park (2.07-mile street course)
• Sat 19-Sep Twin Ring Motegi (1.5-mile oval)
• Sun 11-Oct Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)