INDIANAPOLIS -- The SAFER barrier may have given Robby McGehee another chance at qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, but the 28-year-old from St. Louis ran out of time before he had the opportunity to take advantage.

Still noticeably limping around his car, McGehee called off his first -- and what proved to his only -- effort during Sunday's Bump Day after just two laps. He barely reached 224 mph, more than two mph behind the pace.

	Robby McGehee was able to bounce back from his Opening Day crash, but couldn't qualify for his fourth Indy 500.

When IRL vice president Brian Barnhart canceled the final 65 minutes of qualifying due to worsening weather conditions, McGehee was left sitting in his car, thinking about next year and what could have been.

"Our team made a heroic effort, but we just didn't have time to regroup from our accident on opening day," said McGehee, who had qualified the previous three years at The Brickyard. "On our qualifying run, we were expecting a 226 or a 227 (mph), but one of our rear tires was so out of balance that I could barely see. After we waved that first run off, we changed gears and made some other changes, but it didn't matter because of the rain."

It ended a tough two weeks in Indianapolis. On May 5th's Opening Day of practice, McGehee lost control and slammed into Turn 3, becoming the first driver to test the newly-installed "soft" walls. Although McGehee and his Cahill Racing team credit the walls for preventing further damage, the 1999 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year suffered fractures in his spine and leg, and wasn't cleared to return to his car until last Monday.

It's not that injuries have kept McGehee out of his car before. Last year, he drove in the IRL's final two events with a broken leg. But on Sunday, McGehee and his team just ran out of time to get a fast car on the track.

McGehee came to Indianapolis with just one car, and after his crash on Opening Day totaled the car, he was surprised he got a second chance when Larry Cahill bought a whole new car to try to qualify. Cahill, who has self-funded an IRL team since 1998, purchased a new tub from Walker Racing, an undertray from A.J. Foyt Racing and acquired other necessary parts from Dallara.

Although the crew put in 12-hour days to get the new car ready and McGehee got a lot of track work in during the week's practices, they never reached the necessary speed. When the rain came and never ceased, they had run out of time.

Meanwhile, two other drivers, Mark Dismore and Alex Barron, who crashed hard into the SAFER barriers during practice, were still able to qualify on Bump Day.

"I was way lucky," said Barron, who qualified on Sunday in the ninth row and will start in his first Indy 500. "I wouldn't be here right now if it (wasn't for the soft walls). They are incredible, I am way impressed."

It was a different change to the track that McGehee feels he noticed that led to his disappointing finish.

"The new walls are great, but the new diamond grooving made the track totally different," he said. "I think that played a role too."

While disappointed, McGehee is looking forward to being back in Indiana next May.

"I'm going to take the crew over to Champions at the Downtown Indianapolis Marriott and buy them all a round of Buds because they tried their best. We all did."

Mike Diegnan is the Editor of ABC Sports Online and can be reached at michael.diegnan@abc.com.