Defending Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Rice was injured in a practice crash on Wednesday which will force him to miss Saturday's MBNA Pole Day qualifying. Rice, who won last year's pole with an average speed of 222.024 m.p.h., suffered from a severe back contusion and concussion. Track officials announced that Rice would not be cleared to drive this weekend which means he will miss the first two days of qualifying for this year's 89th running of the Indianapolis 500. The incident happened just 16 minutes into the qualifying session when Rice spun in turn two and slammed into the outside wall. Track workers helped him out of his No.16 Rahal-Letterman Honda. Rice was admitted to Methodist Hospital for observation. "He's very sore but nothing is broken thankfully," said co-owner Bobby Rahal. "They will not allow him to qualify this weekend, which I know he's very disappointed with. We think he'll be ready to go on Wednesday. "I'm not worried about where he qualifies, he's a heck of a racer and we've got good cars."