Edwards catches a good break

Carl Edwards received a thumbs-up from a specialist, enabling him to compete in two races in Indianapolis this weekend. (NAM Y. HUH/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Carl Edwards already was looking at a pretty busy weekend with double duty that included a Busch Series race tomorrow at O'Reilly Raceway Park and Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Nextel Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But the Roush Fenway Racing driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford dislocated his right thumb Sunday night after a multicar pileup driving in a dirt race in Greenwood, Neb.

Edwards was taken to a hospital in West Omaha, where he was kept overnight after undergoing X-rays and a preliminary examination. He was released the next day and consulted with a specialist in his Columbia, Mo., hometown, who confirmed a dislocation but no fracture, which was the biggest break of all for Edwards.

"As long as I don't pull my thumb out of the socket again, and do any ligament damage, I should be fine," said Edwards. "That was the worst part of it; not knowing what was wrong with my thumb and wondering if I had broken it. I was very much relieved when the doctors told me it wasn't broken, because if it was, it would've presented a whole different set of problems."

Edwards, who leads the Busch Series points and ranks fifth in Nextel Cup points, said he will be fitted with a special brace when he takes the wheel for Nextel Cup practice today and the Kroger 200 tomorrow.

Asked if there was a clause in his contract prohibiting him from racing outside of his Nextel Cup and Busch Series commitments, Edwards said no. "I've done way more dangerous stuff than this."

Will he climb into the octagon with former Ultimate Fighting champion Chuck Liddell? "I did train with some mixed martial artists for a week over the winter," said Edwards. "In that week, I learned it would be an extremely painful way for me to train. But we race for Jack Roush and he's a guy who was nearly declared dead after his airplane wreck [several years ago]. He lives life and does what he wants to do."

So if he has to play hurt this weekend, so be it.

"You hear of football players playing with broken limbs and dislocated fingers all the time," Edwards said. "All I've got to do is sit in a racecar."

When Jeff Gordon tallied his fourth Brickyard 400 victory in 2004, it tied him with legendary open-wheel drivers Al Unser, Rick Mears, and A.J. Foyt -- all four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 -- for most victories at this famous 2 1/2-mile track.

They all rank behind retired Formula One ace Michael Schumacher, who won five F1 races at the Brickyard, albeit on the track's road course.

"I have four wins here -- four of the most amazing wins of my career," said Gordon, who finished 16th last year. "Any time you win at Indy, whether it's your first win or your fourth, is incredible. I witnessed Schumacher's fifth win and knew the comparisons would begin. But I don't even compare what we've done in a stock car to what Mears, Unser, and Foyt did. Those guys are legends here."

Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Dodge fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, will return to the site of his 2000 Indianapolis 500 victory, becoming the first Indy 500 champion in a NASCAR race at the Brickyard since Foyt and 1985 Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan did so in the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. Montoya, whose Indy 500 triumph came in his rookie debut, was 15th two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway to increase his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings to 14 points (196 to 182) over David Ragan, the Roush Fenway Racing driver of the No. 6 AAA Insurance Ford . . . Kyle Petty, who spent the last three races working in the TNT broadcast booth, will return behind the wheel of his No. 45 Marathon Dodge for the Brickyard 400. Petty, who is ranked 33d in owner points, will be guaranteed of making his 800th career start this weekend, joining an elite group, including his father, Richard, who leads the list with 1,185 starts. Petty will be joined on the track, though, by two other drivers with 800 career starts: Ricky Rudd, driver of the No. 88 Snickers Ford, and Terry Labonte, who will be using his past champion's provisional to guarantee a starting spot in the 43-car grid for Michael Waltrip's No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. "It's kind of crazy to think that this will be my 800th start," Petty said. "I started back in 1979, when I made my Cup debut, and you never think that you are doing the same thing for 30 years. I think about a lot of people that have helped me sustain such a long career -- my family, Felix [Sabates], the Woods [brothers Glen and Leonard], and everyone else that have been a part of it. It's because of those people and the great equipment they put me in throughout my career that I'm able to join my father on that exclusive list of drivers. It just so happens that it falls at a track like Indy, with all of the racing tradition they have there, that makes it even more special."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.