With most of the motorsports world on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve decided to highlight some of the sport’s legends on a daily basis. We begin each story within the pages of National Speed Sport News.
Carl Edwards’ racing career was a dead end. He was a local hero struggling to get recognition on a national level.
Thus, he took out an ad in the classified section of National Speed Sport News in November 1998.
A little more than 18 years later, Edwards, who became popular for back flipping off his car onto the ground following a victory, walked away from driving with 72 NASCAR national series triumphs, including 28 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
He also won the 2007 NASCAR XFINITY Series title.
Edwards retired at age 37 after nearly winning the series championship.
“I can stand here healthy, and that’s a testament after all the racing I’ve done and all the stupid stuff I’ve done in a race car, that is a true testament to NASCAR, to the tracks, to the people who have built my race cars, to my competitors and to the drivers who have come before me who haven’t been so fortunate,” Edwards said. “Having said that, though, it’s a risky sport. I’m aware of the risks. I don’t like how it feels to take the hits that we take and I’m a sharp guy, and I want to be a sharp guy in 30 years. So those risks are something that I want to minimize.”
All of that led Edwards to believe it was time to leave the seat of a race car behind.
“I had been thinking what I thought was a reasonable amount about how this would end,” he explained. “I always think about things going forward. And in my mind, I’d considered next year being my final year, but I hadn’t put really a lot of thought into it. And after Homestead, I had some time to sit, think and reflect about all of this, and for those three reasons that I gave you, I thought, man, it just — I can’t come up with a good reason why now isn’t a good time.”
Edwards’ quick Truck Series success earned him full-time rides in both the Cup and Xfinity Series in 2005. He won his first races in each series during an early season weekend sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway and never looked back.
Edwards finished in the top two in the Xfinity Series standings five straight years, including his 2007 championship, and amassed 38 wins over seven full seasons.
Over 13 years in the Cup Series, he won 28 races, including the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500, both in 2015. He was the championship runner-up twice, including the closest finish in NASCAR history, losing by tiebreaker in 2011.
