FORT WORTH, Texas -- Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced Friday that he has declined the opportunity from INDYCAR officials to host the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series finale at the Fort Worth motorsports venue.

The opportunity arose Wednesday following the cancellation of the IZOD IndyCar Series race scheduled for Aug. 19 in Qingdao, China and INDYCAR seeking another event to fulfill a 16-race schedule. INDYCAR reached out to Gossage to see if Texas Motor Speedway had an interest in hosting the season finale in late September or early October.

"We appreciate INDYCAR reaching out to us for that opportunity, but there were numerous issues and obstacles to overcome to successfully promote the event like the past 23 IZOD IndyCar Series events we have hosted here," Gossage said. "Our focus during that fall period - ranging from operations to marketing - is squarely on the November 1-4 AAA Texas 500 NASCAR tripleheader weekend, especially with it being a key Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. We couldn't justify dividing resources between the two events to make it happen and it would be an injustice to both due to the scheduling."

Texas Motor Speedway just played host to last Saturday night's Firestone 550 won by Justin Wilson, its 23rd IZOD IndyCar Series event and most of any speedway in the history of the series. The IZOD IndyCar Series has run annually at Texas Motor Speedway since it opened in 1997 and two races were held at the facility from 1998 to 2004, including the season finale on six occasions (1999-2004).

For more information, contact the Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations Department at (817) 215-8520 or pr@texasmotorspeedway.com.