Rice tries to get back on track in Kansas

Last year's Indy 500 champ will be in Sunday's field for the Argent Mortgage 300.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- All Buddy Rice needs to do to upgrade his season is lead a lap Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

He came here in 2004 riding the buzz that comes with winning the Indianapolis 500, then held off teammate Vitor Meira in the second-closest finish in Indy Racing League history.

This year, Rice missed the 500 because of injuries -- and one of his Rahal Letterman teammates, Danica Patrick, grabbed the national spotlight with the best finish ever by a woman. Now, Rice hopes a strong showing in the Argent Mortgage Indy 300 will jump-start his season.

He is yet to lead a lap in 2005.

"I think we need to finish in the top three, and that will be solid," Rice said Thursday. "That's the kind of result we need. Once we get that to happen, everything will start coming together."

Rice, 15th in points this year, finished third in the final standings last year. His three victories in 2004 included the battle with Meira, decided by 18 inches.

Rice had two top-10 finishes in his first four races this year, including a third in Japan, then partially tore a spinal ligament and sustained a concussion when he went backward into the wall during practice for the Indianapolis 500.

He returned June 11 at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing 21st, and wound up 11th last weekend in Richmond, Va.

"There's just been a string of bad luck we can't shake with the 15 car," Rice said earlier in the week. "Hopefully, we can get to Kansas and break it."

Rice favors longer tracks -- such as the 1.5-mile Kansas layout and the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, where he also won last year and will race again July 31.

"I think the Panoz/Honda combination is set for the big tracks," he said. "We definitely have a little bit of work to do on the short tracks."