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The IndyCar Series will not race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012 in the wake of Dan Wheldon's fatal accident in the track's 2011 event.

The venue had been set to host the season finale again prior to the 15-car crash early in October's race, which featured several cars flying through the air and Wheldon suffer unsurvivable injuries when his Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara flipped into the safety fence. Will Power, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand required hospital treatment for injuries following the accident.

The crash led to calls for major changes to the way IndyCar races at superspeedways, where side by side, flat-out, 'pack racing' has been commonplace for many years.

Today series chief Randy Bernard announced that IndyCar had agreed with the Vegas track not to hold a race there in 2012 and instead to test at the speedway to try and find solutions for the longer-term future. Vegas returned to the calendar this year having not been used for major open-wheel racing since Champ Car last raced there in 2005.

"We feel we need to give our technical team ample time to conduct thorough testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, once we complete our ongoing investigation into the 15-car accident during the October 16 race at the track," said Bernard.

The IndyCar Series has yet to announce its full 2012 schedule amid the uncertainty over superspeedway racing following the Las Vegas tragedy.