NASCAR notes: Edwards ready to race with broken foot

HAMPTON, Ga. — Carl Edwards says a broken right foot won’t keep him from winning the Pep Boys Auto 500 on Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

One small problem: If he wins, Edwards won’t be performing his trademark backflip from the roof of his No. 99 Ford. The backflip is on hold for several months.

“I hate to say it, but I probably won’t be doing a backflip for six to eight months, no matter how many races we win,” Edwards said before qualifying 14th.

Edwards leaned on crutches as he spoke with reporters, but he said he wasn’t going to let his injury affect his racing. Edwards finished seventh in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday night. Matt Kenseth was on standby to serve as his relief driver, but Edwards completed the race.

Edwards was hurt playing frisbee in his hometown of Columbia, Mo., on Wednesday.

Frisbee?

“When it happened, we all kind of sat there and looked at each other,” Edwards said. “My buddy said, ‘We can come up with something a lot better than frisbee,’ and I said ‘No, everybody would find out anyway.’”

Added Edwards with a smile: “Those stories are true. It’s a dangerous, dangerous sport, I’m here to tell you.”

Edwards said he didn’t enjoy having to tell Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush about the injury.

“Jack’s reaction was something along the lines of, ‘You just can’t go a day without showing everybody how dumb you are, can you?’” Edwards said.

“At least he can see humor in it. He understands. We’re going to race no matter what, it’s just up to me.”

Edwards is fifth in the Sprint Cup Series standings but has no wins this season. He’s the defending champion in the Atlanta race.

Edwards said he wears a walking boot except when he is racing. He had an orthopedic carbon piece made to keep the bottom of his right racing shoe rigid.

“They say as long as I keep my shoe laced up tight, I can’t really do any damage,” he said, adding he expects to wear the walking boot for eight weeks.

Edwards said he found a stand-in for a victory backflip when visiting the Aflac Cancer Center in Atlanta on Friday.

Jody Lawrence of Greensboro, Ga., a 13-year-old patient at the cancer center, designed the paint scheme for Edwards’ car this weekend as part of an effort to generate awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

“Jody, the girl who designed my car, said, ‘It’s no problem. I’ll be there and I can do a back flip,’ so Jody volunteered to do one if we won on Sunday,” Edwards said.

LABONTE’S STREAK CONTINUES: Bobby Labonte, who was dropped by Yates Racing for seven races, signed a new deal that will allow him to extend his streak of consecutive starts to 569.

Labonte’s streak is second among active drivers. Jeff Gordon will make his 570th consecutive start.

Labonte qualified 25th in TRG Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevrolet.

Labonte, the 2000 series champion, left Petty Enterprises last season because he was unsure of its long-term stability.

“I’ve got a new saying, stuff happens, more than I expected it to,” Labonte said. “I’m not really surprised by anything anymore because it seems like things happen that you don’t expect to happen.”

Labonte has six career wins at Atlanta, most recently in 2003.

The 45-year-old racer is in the midst of his sixth winless season. He’s 30th in the standings with one top-10 finish this season.

Yates Racing is replacing Labonte with 26-year-old Erik Darnell for seven races, including his Sprint Cup Series debut at Atlanta.

Darnell says he must take advantage of the seven-race audition.

“I’d like to earn a chance to race one of these things next year and this is my opportunity to do it with these seven races,” he said. “I’ve just got to go out and be solid and hopefully everything will kind of fall into place.”

Darnell finished fourth in last year’s Truck Series, where he has two career wins. He has five top-10 finishes on the Nationwide Series this season. He was last among 46 drivers qualifying on Saturday for the race; his 96 car qualified on owner’s points.

HOKIES FAN: Denny Hamlin, a Virginia native, was happy his qualifying schedule on Saturday afternoon left him enough time to be on the sideline for Saturday night’s Virginia Tech-Alabama game at the Georgia Dome.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the game,” Hamlin said. “I have a lot of friends who are going to be at that game also. I’m looking forward to it, especially being on the sideline.”

Predictably, Hamlin said Virginia Tech would win, “probably by three to six points.”