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DETROIT — The Indy Racing League could be expanding its season by 2009, and if that’s the case, Michigan International Speedway might be back on the schedule.

The IndyCar series will not race at the fast two-mile oval in Brooklyn next year because of a scheduling conflict between the series and the track, marking the first time in 40 years there won’t be an open-wheel race at MIS.

There currently are 17 races on the IndyCar schedule, which begins in March and ends in early September. Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart, top officials from the IRL, will address several issues Saturday at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, and it is anticipated they will discuss expanding the schedule.

“If we want to add races beyond that, we have to look at ways to start earlier and end later, and then there’s probably an opportunity to pick up the phone and call (MIS president) Roger (Curtis) and his crew and see if there’s an opportunity (to return to Michigan),” the IRL’s John Griffin said Thursday.

“But long-term, we’re going to expand our schedule, and to do that, we’re going to have to start earlier and end later by moving some things around, so I certainly think the opportunity is there. We may have more to say about that by Saturday.”

Griffin said he is confident the southeastern Michigan market can support a race at MIS and on Belle Isle, which has a five-year contract.

“They’re two very different races,” Griffin said. “We all know the reputation MIS has for spin-and-wins and fastest finishes and fastest speeds, all that stuff. You can’t take that away from it. There’s enough population up here where there’s an audience that prefers ovals, and there’s an audience that would support a street race.”

Dancing fool?

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is three rehearsals into preparations for ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and he’s already feeling it.

“My knees,” he said laughing, adding he has been learning to Mamba.

For Sam Hornish Jr., Castroneves’ teammate at Team Penske, it’s his ears — he’s grown tired of hearing Castroneves talk about his upcoming role in the popular television show.

Hornish joked that he wouldn’t vote for Castroneves if he didn’t stop talking about the competition.

“He’s so excited about it, he doesn’t even talk about racing anymore,” Hornish said. “He told me, ‘I want to come down to Defiance (Hornish’s hometown in Ohio) and be like a politician; I’ve got to talk about how to get people to vote for me.’

“Anybody he meets, it’s like, ‘Oh, what do you do?’

‘I’m with Meijer.’

‘How many employees do you have?’

‘Sixty thousand.’

‘Hey, do you think you can get them to vote for me?’

“He’s like, ‘I’m not relying on my dancing skills at all.’ I think it’s hilarious. He’s going to love (the clothes), too. He’ll be like, ‘Oh, I look good.’”

Big change

Hornish is still undecided about his racing future. The three-time IndyCar series champion and 2006 Indy 500 winner tested a NASCAR Nextel Cup car earlier this week for team owner Roger Penske, as he readies to attempt to qualify for five Cup races later this season.

Hornish has competed in the NASCAR Busch series and made an ARCA start at MIS in June.

“Obviously, it’s a very tough decision to make,” Hornish said. “We still haven’t made one. We knew at the beginning of the year, part of the plan was to get seat time in a Cup car and see what I like about that and what I didn’t like. I really just got my first two days in the car and ran at Nashville and at Memphis earlier this week, and it’s a lot different than a Busch car.

“It was something to go from the Indy car to the Busch car to see how much less downforce it had, and now to go to that car, it’s still another version of that, another big step.”