Mike Conway's goal of returning for this weekend at Infineon Raceway turned out to be wishful thinking. He probably won't be at Chicago, Kentucky or Japan, either, the focus now on Homestead.
The way Conway's car nearly disintegrated around him at the Indianapolis 500, even returning for the season-ending race would be an accomplishment.
''Looking back, it's pretty amazing that we're talking about him being back for Homestead when you look at the graphic nature of that crash,'' Dreyer & Reinbold co-owner Robbie Buhl said. ''He's thinking he's going to be back in the car by Homestead is pretty incredible.''
Conway, in his second season with D&R, had one of the most frightening crashes in Indy 500 history, hurtling through the air and into the barrier after colliding with Ryan Hunter-Reay on the final lap. Conway sustained multiple fractures on his lower left leg that required surgery and had a compression fracture in his back.
The British driver spent six weeks in a cast after surgery and the past two months making slow but steady progress with his rehabilitation. Conway, who turned 27 on Thursday, is still on crutches but hopes to be walking soon and closer to returning to his car.
''The hardest thing has been getting the movement back in my ankle because it's really stiff, but it's doing a lot better than it was three weeks ago,'' Conway said from England. ''It still should be a little bit better than it is, but it's going kind of well as expected.''
The initial target of returning by Sonoma was always a little optimistic. The race is less than three months after Conway's crash and is held on a demanding road course that puts a pounding on both legs.
Buhl and co-owner Dennis Reinbold had hoped Conway would be able to fly out to Sonoma for a visit with the team and his fellow drivers, but the plans didn't work out.
''I would have hoped to be back by Sonoma, but I didn't really set a date,'' Conway said. ''At the moment, I'm not sure when I'll be back. I want to get back in my car, obviously, but I want to be 100 percent.''
D&R has switched out drivers in Conway's No. 24, using Tomas Scheckter, Graham Rahal and Paul Tracy before giving 2009 Indy Lights champion JR Hildebrand a shot at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma. Buhl and Reinbold plan to put part-time IndyCar driver Ana Beatriz in Conway's car at Chicago on Aug. 28 and are keeping Homestead open in case Conway returns.
Next season, hopes to have Conway and Justin Wilson together for a full season and may look into adding a third car.
''It's been a tough thing, but we've been pretty happy with the guys we've put through to replace Mike because they're all pretty good drivers,'' Buhl said. ''It's been interesting for us to put different personalities in the car to see how they mesh with us, what their feedback is, just learning about different drivers. I think we've made the most of a bad situation.''
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MORE CHANGES: New IndyCar Series Randy Bernard has made a slew of changes in his six months on the job, overhauling everything from the cars' engine and chassis packages to developing new marketing and promotion tactics.
He's still not done.
Bernard is planning a trip to Europe to pitch IndyCar's 2012 engine package in hopes of adding new manufacturers, has laid some of the groundwork for a possible race in China and hinted at regulations that would curb some of the buy-a-ride entries in the series.
He's also finalizing the 2011 schedule that will include two races in one day at Texas, stops in Baltimore and New Hampshire and, hopefully, a race in Las Vegas. Bernard has eyed Vegas almost since the day he took the job in February and said details are still being worked out to race near The Strip next year.
''We have a lot of work to do yet,'' Bernard said on Saturday. ''It's no secret that we feel Vegas is a great fit. It's sexy, it's showy, it's lifestyle, it's everything that you want and that's what IndyCar is. It's a great fit, but we need some great partners.''
Bernard also said other networks have shown interest in televising the series, but that he plans to honor the remaining two years IndyCar has in its contract with ABC. IndyCar has four races on ABC, including the Indy 500, with the rest of the races on the Versus network.
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PIT STOPS: Danica Patrick had a rough start to the weekend. She struggled to find speed in any of the practice sessions, then got clipped by Takuma Sato coming around a turn, damaging the front left end. Patrick's problems continued into qualifying and she'll start 23rd in Sunday's race. ... Polesitter Will Power has started on the front row in six straight races. ... Scott Dixon extended his record of consecutive top-10 starts to 45 races by qualifying sixth.
