Earnhardt is looking forward to having Mark Martin's experience to lean on. (LAT photo) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS » More Photos

JUNIOR'S NEW PAL Even though he's leaving Dale Earnhardt, Inc. at the end of the season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said Friday he's psyched about having Mark Martin as a teammate over the final 17 races of the season. Martin, of course, is now Earnhardt's teammate, after his former team, Ginn Racing, was absorbed by DEI earlier this week. The move is one Earnhardt said he welcomed.

"He (Mark Martin) taught me and he taught Matt Kenseth and a lot of guys that raced against him in the Busch Series so much about racing and etiquette and patience and how much there is out there in your race car. I've seen him do things in a race car that I just couldn't believe," Earnhardt said. "Those are the things that you have to see with your own eyes to understand. He would go down in the corner at Charlotte in the Busch car in '98 or '99 and just do a lot of things that I didn't know were possible. You just don't know the limits when you're at that age and when you're where I was experience-wise, he was out there teaching me and Matt and a couple of other guys how to get it done and how to do it right. So we built up a pretty good respect for each other since then. He's always spoken well to me personally and about me within the media. We just have a pretty good respect for each other and I think we have a good friendship. When you talk about friendships with drivers it's not so much about hanging out, it's just the dependability. If you ever called him or needed anything you'd expect him to be there."

Edwards is confident he won't be all thumbs this weekend despite his injury. (LAT photo) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS » More Photos

THUMBIN'

IT Despite dislocating his thumb after crashing last Sunday in a dirt-late model race, Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards said Friday that he's good to go in this weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. "It's just been a long week of trying to make sure that was all going to be good, but it looks like everything is going to be fine," said Edwards. "They built me a nice little brace, and I sat in a car – I don't think there's going to be any trouble there. … It's really not that painful. The worst part about what happened there was just looking down and seeing my thumb in kind of a different position than I'd ever seen it before. So, that was a little bit nerve-wracking, but once we got to the hospital, they told me it was no big deal, it wasn't broken. As long as I keep it in place, it'll be fine. Definitely not taking anything for the pain, but it really doesn't hurt that bad. It could've been a lot worse. It's really pretty straight forward, small injury. No big deal."

Edwards said team co-owner Jack Roush offered some encouragement – sort of. "I called him back after I went to get the MRIs looked at and they said that it was going to be fine, and I think his quote was: 'It's good to see that it's only going to cause you pain and suffering, and no permanent damage.' He thought it was kind of humorous," Edwards said. "He (Roush) said, 'If you're going to play, you've got to be tough.' That's the kind of guy Jack is. He's been through more physical trauma than most people who are alive. So, he looks at all this stuff as minor."