INDIANAPOLIS — Monday and Tuesday of the second week of practice for the 2008 Indianapolis 500 were quiet while the Speedway observed a scheduled two-day break.

May 14

With a light but stubborn rain falling around the grounds, the opening of practice was delayed until shortly before 5 p.m. Jeff Simmons was among the cars making it onto the track, but four minutes later the red flag was waving for a heavy mist at the north end of the oval. Roger Yasukawa got onto the track when it reopened, a half-hour before rain stopped the day’s activities. 
John Andretti, hired by Marty Roth to wheel the second car in his stable, turned the fastest lap of the non-qualified racers, lapping the Speedway at 221.386 miles per hour. Buddy Rice, Enrique Bernoldi, Townsend Bell and Bruno Junqueira were also in the 220 mph range.  But the top speeds were still claimed by Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti, each exceeding 222.8 mph.

May 15

Underscoring the urgency teams felt to work on qualifying or race day setups, within 10 minutes after the track’s opening at noon, 26 cars had already completed 183 laps. With temperatures in the 60s under cloudy skies, the oval was very busy.  Shortly before 3 p.m., the Speedway noted that nearly 1,700 laps had been run. 
The Penske team focused on trying different setup options and found themselves at the top of the day’s speed chart. Ryan Briscoe was quickest at 223.7, followed by Helio Castroneves’s 223.2 mph lap.
Rookie Will Power moved the Aussie Vineyard/Team Australia Dallara to the top of the unqualified ranks with a solid 222.6 circuit, with Marco Andretti, Junqueira, Rice and E. J. Viso topping 222.
As some teams were figuring out what they wanted to do, others were learning what not to do.
“We had the same balance problem all day today that we had yesterday, no matter what we seemed to throw at it,” explained Marco Andretti. “We have to hit the books tonight and work as a team to see what we can do to make the car handle better.”

May 16

A critical, but tricky day for those looking for one of the 22 spots still available on the starting grid, Friday proved eventful. Further proving to be one of the favorites to capture all the marbles, pole-sitter Dixon was at the top of the chart, lapping at 223.7.  Castroneves and Briscoe were close behind as two unqualified rookies, Power and Graham Rahal, moved into the top five with laps in the 223 mph neighborhood.
Three incidents involving a veteran and two rookies punctuated the busy afternoon. The least serious was when Rahal scraped the first-turn SAFER barrier in the Hole-In-The Wall Camps Dallara just before 5:30 and continued to his pits. 
Just 11 minutes into the day’s session, Viso hit the turn three wall with his unqualified PDVSA Dallara. 
Outside front row starter Briscoe lost the rear end of his backup Penske Dallara, pounding the turn one SAFER barrier. 
“I had a big moment in turn one,” Wilson reported after running 62 laps. “I think it was more luck than judgment that the back came back in line.  I basically crashed, but didn’t hit anything. So, we put the car away.”
The busiest day of the month saw 2,164 laps completed, bringing the total to 9,071, even with the limited track time. Of the 36 cars on the track, 10 were already qualified, and 26 were looking at the 22 open slots.