Planned for a major announcement this Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern on SPEED's “Wind Tunnel,” the winds of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule has shifted to a Friday report from USA Today that forecasts how the schedule will look.

The report from Jeff Olson indicates IndyCar will hit its 19-race target as outlined by CEO Randy Bernard, with three doubleheader weekends set for Detroit, Toronto and Sonoma. Houston, which has been officially confirmed, and Pocono, all but officially confirmed, will for sure join the calendar and Providence – a street race rumored for roughly the last month that would occur August 11 – may still join. Edmonton is the only casualty from this year's 15-race schedule.

Bernard told USA Today that for the doubleheader rounds, standing starts will be introduced for one of the two races.

“We believe the average distance traveled by fans will be longer for doubleheaders, so we'll draw more fans. The more time you get to see people competing in a race is better, and adding a standing start to one of the races adds to the intrigue. We feel like it will be a big positive for the fans, but it also gives us better exposure for our sponsors, more TV time, and it helps the promoters by giving them something additional to sell.”

Detroit is the lone road and street course interruption between the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, and Pocono's addition set for July 7. As this year, Texas, Milwaukee and Iowa will be other ovals in-between, with Fontana's Auto Club Speedway confirmed for a season ending 500-miler once again and shifted to October.

Kentucky Speedway has also been rumored within the last week but appears unlikely to make the cut.

PROJECTED 2013 INDYCAR SCHEDULE

March 24	St. Petersburg, Fla.
April 7		Birmingham, Ala.
April 21	Long Beach, Calif.
May 5		Sao Paulo, Brazil
May 26	        Indianapolis, In.
June 1-2	Detroit, Mich. (doubleheader)
June 8		Fort Worth, Texas
June 15	        Milwaukee, Wis.
June 22	        Newton, Iowa
July 7		Pocono, Pa.
July 13-14	Toronto, Ontario (doubleheader)
Aug. 4		Lexington, Ohio
Aug. 24-25	Sonoma, Calif. (doubleheader)
Sept. 1		Baltimore, Md.
Oct. 6		Houston, Texas
Oct. 12		Fontana, Calif.