Tracy unsure of return date

The 2003 champion crashed in Saturday practice, and had to sit out the rest of the weekend when doctors discovered that he had suffered a compression fracture to his first lumbar vertebrae.

"This is obviously a very unfortunate situation," said Tracy. "It's really a shame because it pretty much ruins the championship for us this year.

"I'm just going to go home and rest for a couple of days and then early next week we'll start figuring out the best recovery options so I can get back in the car as soon as possible."

Tracy added that he knew something was wrong as soon as he had the crash at Turn 1 on Saturday morning.

"I could tell something was wrong right away," he said. "I was coming off Turn 1 and got back on the throttle pretty hard and the car just snapped around.

"I went head on into the wall and then the car jumped up in the air and then slammed back on the ground."

The Canadian said that while he wasn't in too much physical pain, he is devastated that his season has been disrupted.

"I'm very disappointed because we had gotten off to a great start in Vegas and we were pretty strong here," he said.

"We were building momentum and just hoping to be fast and consistent the whole year.

"I feel ok right now after all the medication that the doctors gave me, but I'm just sore and stiff and I just need some rest."