INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Each day Paul Tracy arrives at the track expecting to go faster. Each evening he returns to the garage looking for an explanation as to what went wrong.

Each morning the routine begins again.

"It's like I'm in that movie, 'Groundhog Day,' where every day is the same thing over and over again," Tracy said Thursday, another difficult one at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Perhaps the predicament would be easier to accept if something, anything, actually went right. But little has.

Barry Green brought his three-driver team to the Indianapolis 500 fully expecting to contend for the title. It still could.

But with only Friday and Saturday to practice, there isn't much time to work out the kinks. The last of the three qualifying days for the May 26 race is Sunday, and there are still problems to be solved, speed to be found.

Tracy has barely cracked 224 mph this month, and teammate Dario Franchitti has struggled, too. Neither has yet made the 33-car starting grid.

The team's other driver, Michael Andretti, has qualified in the 23rd spot of the tentative 24-car field, putting him in danger of being bumped from the race. Nine spots remain open, and Team Green is worried enough about Andretti's qualifying speed of 226.780, that it's preparing a backup car.

"Dario, we were very disappointed with his qualifying run, we felt he could do a lot better than that," Green said. "Michael, we're not too concerned about, but we need to be watching qualifying Sunday and we need to be ready with his backup car."

Then, there's Tracy.

His inexplicable lack of speed finally got to him Saturday. Instead of being patient, as he knew he should on the 2½-mile oval, Tracy challenged it - and lost.

During Saturday morning's practice, he spun in turn two and hit hard against the new "soft" wall, rear first. Tracy was not injured, but his car was badly damaged and he was starting all over again.

"We were making changes, basically. We were throwing darts at a dart board to try and get speed out of the car," Tracy said. "That's not the right thing to do. That was a mistake on our part."

Compounding the problem has been the schedule.

Rain washed out the entire day of qualifying Sunday, the first time that had happened in 12 years. The track was closed Monday and Tuesday, giving Tracy and his teammates three days to find answers.

No luck. After going no faster than 223.301 on Wednesday, crews were still working on Tracy's car Thursday morning - when more than 30 other drivers were on the track. Like Tracy, Franchitti's car and Andretti's backup also were in the garage area.

"I'm about ready to start looking for a cliff to drive off," Tracy said, smiling.

The good news is Tracy and his teammates believe they are strong enough to contend on race day. The bad news is they still have to get there.

"We could run those kinds of speeds all day long. That's a good race pace," Tracy said. "We just can't get the qualifying speeds."

With all the troubles, all the questions and all the consternation in the garage, there's only one certainty - things are bad.

"We are surprised at the situation we find ourselves in," Green said. "This place is all about putting you to the test. Sometimes, it picks on one team, but all you can do is dig deeper and work harder."

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