NASCAR Cup Series

Carl Edwards fractures foot but will race at Atlanta

Published Sep. 4, 2009 12:29 a.m. ET

foxsports

Will the defending winner of the Pep Boys Auto 500 be sporting crutches at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend?

Keeping track

Starts	Wins	Top fives	Top 10s	Rank
24	0	7	11	5

Carl Edwards, who is currently fifth in points, fractured his right foot playing Frisbee Wednesday and is currently on crutches.

"I know this probably sounds ridiculous to a lot of people and I could hardly believe it myself," said Edwards in a press release. "I was playing Frisbee with a couple of buddies and we both went for the Frisbee at the same time. I put my foot on it, my friend dove for it, and the next thing you know ... we all heard a pop. I knew it was broken and we all kind of looked at each other in disbelief that of all things, I would break my foot playing Frisbee. I immediately went to the doctor and have been working with a great team of people at the University of Missouri who work with all the college teams here. They have me on crutches to help me walk but said I could race in both races this weekend and shouldn't have a problem using the accelerator.

"I guess you never know when something is going to happen. This is obviously an unforeseen accident and even though I am not going to miss work, my Aflac policy has me covered. I've now seen first hand how Aflac works and it's clear that no matter how big or small the accident is Aflac is there for their policyholders."

Edwards saw doctors from the University of Missouri in his hometown of Columbia, Mo., Thursday afternoon and was cleared to drive this weekend in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races.

In 10 Atlanta starts, Edwards has three wins, six top fives and eight top 10 finishes in 10 starts. A fourth win, or any result which would leave him with a 196-point lead over the 13th-place driver in the standings, would clinch him a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with one race remaining.