Gregoire hospitalized after crash

Dr. Mike Olinger, medical director for the Indy Racing League, said a magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed Gregoire suffered an in-plate fracture of the third thoracic vertebrae. He was held overnight at Methodist Hospital for precautionary observation and will be released tomorrow, Olinger said.

It was not immediately clear whether Gregoire would return to the No. 77 Chastain Motorsports Honda/Panoz. He will be examined further Friday morning.

The team has not qualified for the race and will have to do so Saturday or Sunday.

Gregoire was third-fastest of the session when his No. 77 Chastain Motorsports Honda/Panoz spun and crashed shortly after 1 p.m. He walked from the car and appeared to be unhurt, but he was taken to Methodist for a precautionary CAT scan on his back and neck about an hour after the crash.

The car, which struck the wall with the rear end, sustained moderate damage. It was the first injury of the month and just the third crash since the track opened May 6.

While Andretti Green Racing and Team Penske bypassed any serious work Thursday because of cold and windy conditions, Target Chip Ganassi Racing topped the speed chart in backup cars. Scott Dixon recorded the fastest lap of the day - 219.985 mph - in the No. 9T Ganassi Honda/Dallara.

"On days like this, you wonder whether you should run or not," Dixon said. "You're so limited on tires and engine miles. If you run when everybody is running, you get more of a feel for what the car needs.

"We didn't run too much because in the next couple of days we're going to need the track time. It's almost like a rainout."

Penske drivers Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves rolled out their backups for a quick leak check, but didn't take to the track in their primary cars or get up to speed in their backups.

All five Andretti Green cars bagged the day, as 50-degree temperatures and a blustery north wind are expected to give way to sunny skies and a high of 70 on Friday.

"With it being so cold, it wasn't beneficial to run today," Tony Kanaan said. "The temperature and weather look much better Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And we expect that to be closer to the weather on race day."

Others with solid laps Thursday included Darren Manning, who turned in his top spot on the daily chart this month - third - with a lap of 219.116 mph in the No. 14 Foyt Enterprises Honda/Dallara. "We've got a better car than what we qualified with," said Manning, who will start 15th in the May 27 race.

The Vision Racing cars also recorded strong laps, circling the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval 56 times with a top lap of 218.230 mph by Tomas Scheckter. Teammates Ed Carpenter, Davey Hamilton and A.J. Foyt IV followed Scheckter on the speed chart.

"The cars have so much downforce in these conditions that it can be deceiving when you're working on race setups," Carpenter said. "We just went out and worked on a list of things we wanted to test that aren't altered by the weather or conditions."

Teams return to the track Friday before qualifying resumes Saturday for the final 11 positions on the starting grid.

Pos  Driver             Chassis  Speed
 1.  Scott Dixon        Dallara  219.985
 2.  Dan Wheldon        Dallara  219.773
 3.  Darren Manning     Dallara  219.116
 4.  Tomas Scheckter    Dallara  218.230
 5.  Ed Carpenter       Dallara  217.995
 6.  Davey Hamilton     Dallara  217.975
 7.  A.J. Foyt IV       Dallara  217.893
 8.  Stephan Gregoire   Panoz    217.851
 9.  Scott Sharp        Dallara  217.680
10.  Al Unser Jr        Dallara  217.590
11.  Jeff Simmons       Dallara  217.590
12.  Roger Yasukawa     Dallara  217.230
13.  Kosuke Matsuura    Dallara  217.210
14.  John Andretti      Dallara  216.737
15.  Phil Giebler       Panoz    216.441
16.  Jaques Lazier      Panoz    216.309
17.  Buddy Lazier       Dallara  216.181
18.  Vitor Meira        Dallara  216.081
19.  Marty Roth         Dallara  215.499
20.  Milka Duno         Dallara  213.460
21.  P.J. Jones         Dallara  212.541
22.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dallara  106.873
23.  Helio Castroneves  Dallara   99.894