After 19 months of lonely rehabilitation from near-fatal injuries, Kenny Brack is back where he belongs — in the fastest car at Indy.

Brack on Saturday clocked the fastest qualifying speed in the field for the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29, a four-lap average of 227.598 mph. That topped pole-winner Tony Kanaan’s 227.566.

But Brack wasn’t eligible for the pole because only the final 11 berths in the race were open Saturday. He’ll have to settle for the 23rd starting position.

The 1999 Indy winner was called in last week to substitute for 2004 winner Buddy Rice, who suffered a neck injury in a crash here May 11 and was ordered by physicians not to participate in this year’s race.

Actually, Brack was just taking his old ride back. He’d been the driver of the Rahal-Letterman team’s No. 15 IndyCar until October 2003, when a horrific crash at Texas Motor Speedway left him with three broken vertebrae in his neck, a concussion and broken ankles, sternum, ribs and right leg.

Rice was hired full time by the team only after it was determined that Brack would be on a long and iffy road to recovery.

Brack, 38, of Sweden, hasn’t raced since his Texas crash.

“I thank God for letting me come back, and Rahal-Letterman for giving me the opportunity,” Brack said.

“It’s brave, it’s brave,” rookie sensation Danica Patrick said of the comeback of Brack, her newest teammate. “He almost died.”

Patrick qualified fourth, best of any woman ever for the 500, and another Rahal-Letterman teammate, Vitor Meira of Brazil, will start seventh.

A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of four-time Indy winner A.J. Foyt, struggled into the field for the 30th starting spot with a four-lap average of 220.442 mph.

The traditional field of 33 cars was still one short after Saturday’s session. Jimmy Kite qualified 32nd, at 218.565. Arie Luyendyk Jr. crashed and was unable to regroup for another qualifying run.

Today’s final round of qualifying, traditionally called “Bump Day,” probably will feature little if any bumping — late contenders trying to make the field by bettering the speeds of the slower cars that are already in the provisional lineup.