Former Brickyard winner Elliott left out looking in

At the very back of the garage area, they were preparing not for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard but to go home. Crewmen disassembled rear wings and returned the parts to NASCAR officials. Chairs and hero card holders were moved, transporter lifts were lowered, cars were loaded up. And then, the most incongruous sight of all -- Bill Elliott, clad in not a firesuit but a golf shirt and jeans, stopping to sign a few autographs before moving on.

“
I don't even want to talk about it right now, to be honest with you. I might say something I don't need to.
”
EDDIE WOODFour cars were sent home from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, and only one of them was from a full-time Sprint Cup organization. The proud, venerable, but fallen-upon-hard-times Wood Brothers, with Elliott behind the wheel, were knocked out of the Brickyard field when Petty Enterprises fill-in driver Terry Labonte was forced to use the past champion's provisional. Two adjacent stalls in the garage area told the story: the No. 45, full of crewmen working on a racecar, and the No. 21, empty.

It was a bitter moment for a 55-year-old Wood Brothers franchise that's suffered through too many of them already. Elliott, the 2002 Brickyard champion, came to Indianapolis as one of only five drivers to have competed in all 14 previous NASCAR events at the historic 2.5-mile venue. And Saturday brought back painful memories of February, when the Woods missed their first Daytona 500 since 1960 after Kurt Busch -- whose points from the previous year had been transferred to rookie teammate Sam Hornish Jr. -- suffered a failure in a qualifying race and needed the past champion's spot.

Team co-owner Eddie Wood couldn't hide his disappointment. "I don't even want to talk about it right now, to be honest with you," he said. "I might say something I don't need to."

Elliott was 19th-fastest in the weekend's first practice on Friday, but turned only five laps in the session. He made 10 more in second practice, but dropped to 39th-fastest. His qualifying speed of 175.552 mph ranked 41st, and was slower than those turned in by J.J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs. A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose -- all drivers also outside of the top 35 in owner points, and who had to make the race on speed.