SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Indianapolis Motor Speedway was silent until practice for the 91st annual Indianapolis 500 resumed on Wednesday.
Among those looking for qualifying speeds were teams that had come together during the two-day lull. After a 13-year absence, John Andretti was assigned to a third car for Panther Racing, and Stephan Gregoire picked up a ride in the Chastain Motorsports Panoz.

May 16
A sure sign of the change in focus between the first and second weeks was the drop in practice speeds. The weather changed dramatically also, and that affected the number of cars on the track as much as the speeds. While just seven days earlier, the fastest cars were dueling for top speed of the day in the 225-226-mile-per-hour range, the same two drivers were preparing for race day at speeds in the 219-mph neighborhood. 
With the top lap at 221.1, Danica Patrick earned $2,500 from Ethanol. She said that when they switched to a setup similar to one used by Dario Franchitti over the weekend, the Motorola Dallara was the best it had been all month.
Jaques Lazier and Roger Yasukawa were quickest among the six unqualified cars on the track at 217.1 and 216.6. P.J. Jones made his first appearance in the Team Leader Dallara, painted in homage to Parnelli Jones’s STP turbine.
Jimmy Kite’s unqualified machine collected the first-turn wall in the PDM Z-Line Designs Panoz. Paul Diatlovich and his crew quickly began repair efforts.

May 17
In contrast to the first week, it was the second day of overcast, cool and windy conditions. Among the first cars out on the track were the unqualified machines of Stephan Gregoire, Al Unser, Jr., John Andretti, Milka Duno and Roger Yasukawa. 
Shortly after noon, Gregoire spun exiting the first turn and hit the short chute wall. After being assessed at the infield medical center, Gregoire was transferred to Methodist Hospital, complaining of back pain. He was later diagnosed with a fracture to the end plate of third thoracic vertebra. Before the incident, Gregoire ran 217.8, fastest of the day for those not qualified.
Target Ganassi’s Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon turned the fastest laps, at 219.9 and 219.7 mph, in their backup cars. 

May 18
The weather improved dramatically, and so did the action on the track, as well as the practice speeds. Thirty-one cars ran 1,768 laps, with Sam Hornish’s 225-mph tour the fastest of the day.  It was a busy day for the front-runners, and they gave the spectators a show as they ran in packs, testing various setup tweaks and calculating gas mileage. 
The Andretti Green cars spent many laps working together and were joined by the polesitter, Helio Castroneves, and his teammate, Hornish, as well as Dixon and Wheldon at various times during the sunny afternoon.  Michael Andretti smoothly turned lap after lap, consistently running 220.6, as if planning a race pace.