INDIANAPOLIS -- Sam Hornish Jr. is letting other people hog the headlines this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"We're just basically trying to take our time getting up there, moving step by step," Hornish said Thursday during a break in practice for the Indianapolis 500. "We don't want to change too much and lose our setup."

	Sam Hornsih Jr. is waiting patiently to get up to speed at Indy.

While Tony Kanaan and 1999 Indy winner Kenny Brack turned the fastest laps of the day at 229.503 mph and 229.025, respectively, Hornish was conscientiously preparing for both Saturday's pole qualifying and the race May 26.

Hornish improved his best lap from 226.859 on Tuesday to 228.284, making him the slowest of eight drivers with laps above 228 since practice began on Sunday.

"We're out there running four or five laps at a time to get a good feel for what the car is doing," said Hornish, the defending IRL champion and its current points leader. "A lot of those other guys are going out and running a lap or two and coming in.

"After we run some laps, we bring the car back in, make a few changes and go back out. We're trying not to make any big changes so we don't make any big mistakes."

The 22-year-old Hornish said he would love to win the Indy pole but added, "The big money is paid for the race, not the pole."

Keeping his goals conservative, Hornish said qualifying in the top 12 would satisfy him.

"Scott Goodyear qualified 13th for the Panther Pennzoil team in 2000 and I was 13th in the car last year," he said. "It's gotten so people can just look at the lineup and say, 'Yeah, inside row five, that's where you are.'

"If we start anywhere in the top four rows, that will be an improvement."

The start of practice was delayed by a wet track for the fourth straight day -- this time for 90 minutes. The sun came out after that, though, giving everyone a chance to get onto the 2½-mile oval for some serious preparation for qualifying.

Forty cars got on the track, turning a total of 1,446 laps.

Kanaan, a regular on the rival CART circuit and an Indy rookie, whose best previous lap was 226.998, turned the second-fastest speed of the month during a high-speed flurry of activity late in the day.

Only rookie Laurent Redon's 229.808 from Tuesday is faster.

"I need to thank Jimmy Vasser," Kanaan said. "That was his tow for the whole lap. The car's consistent at 227.6 and that's pretty good."

The G Force-Chevrolet the Brazilian drove Thursday is actually Mo Nunn Racing teammate Felipe Giaffone's backup.

"I need to take him out to dinner tonight and talk him into letting me keep the car," Kanaan said, laughing.

Helio Castronves, the defending Indy winner, improved his best lap to 228.738, followed by Jeff Ward at 228.571 and Bruno Junqueira at 228.610.

The only other driver over 228 this week, defending pole winner Scott Sharp, was able to get to only 227.175 in Thursday's session.

The new "soft" wall safety system got its third test of the week when Mark Dismore crashed hard in turn one late in the day. He was able to walk away from the wreck but was taken to Methodist Hospital for observation after being diagnosed with a concussion.

Both PJ Jones and Robby McGehee, who hit the wall earlier in the week in separate accidents, wound up with cracked vertebras after backing into the wall.

McGehee remains hopeful of getting back on track in time to qualify for the 500. Raul Boesel, who took Jones' place, made it onto the track for some laps Thursday, getting up to 224.722.

Qualifying to fill the 33-car field is scheduled Saturday and Sunday and again on May 19.