Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards

status	not active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement	2. - (2008, 2011)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 445 28 22nd 220
NASCAR Xfinity Series Statistics
Best placement	1st - (2007)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 245 38 27 174
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series statistics
Best placement	4th - (2004)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 60 6th 4th 35
Data status: end of season 2016

Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979 in Columbia , Missouri ) is a retired American automobile racing driver who was active in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series until 2016 . He won the NASCAR Busch Series in 2007 and was twice runner-up in the Sprint Cup. However, he was denied the title win in the Cup, as well as a victory at the Daytona 500 .

Life

As a child, he watched his father race cars, so he decided to follow in his footsteps. His father drove heavily modified touring cars, so-called "Modifieds", and "Sprint Cars" of the USAC , that is, high-powered racing cars for loose surfaces or asphalt tracks, for more than 40 years and won over 200 races. Edwards' career began in 1993 when he competed in Mini-Sprint Series races at the age of 13. The following year he won four races in the series on racetracks in Missouri and Illinois . In 1995 and 1996 he won a total of 14 races.

In 1997, Edwards switched to dirt racing and drove in the Modified Division of the International Motor Contest Association . In 1998 he was named Rookie of the Year at Capital Speedway in Holt Summit , Missouri. In 1999 he won 13 races in this division on the speedway and won the NASCAR track championship.

NASCAR

The next step in Edwards' career came in 2002 when he competed in seven races in the Craftsman Truck Series for MB Motorsports . The best result was an eighth place on the Kansas Speedway . In the same year Edwards drove a race in the Busch Series, today's Nationwide Series, for Bost Motorsports on the Gateway International Raceway , which he finished in 38th. Still, Jack Roush was impressed with the performances and signed Edwards. Edwards completed his first full season in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2003 and drove a Superchips-sponsored Ford F-150 with starting number 99. With three wins of the season and eighth place at the end of the championship, he also secured the title of Rookie of the Year . He also won three races in the 2004 season, including the season's inaugural race, the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway . Edwards finished the season fourth in the championship. In August 2004, he also made his debut in the Sprint Cup, then known as the Nextel Cup, when he replaced Jeff Burton , who had left the Roush team. He finished his first race in the number 99 Ford Taurus at Michigan International Speedway in tenth place. Edwards also started the rest of the season in this car in the Sprint Cup. In 2004 Edwards also drove another race in the Nationwide Series, this time for Robby Benton Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway .

Edwards (in red overalls) waves to the fans during the driver show in Bristol in Spring 2006.

In the 2005 season, Edwards became a full-time driver in both the Sprint Cup and the Nationwide Series. On March 19, 2005, he won his first race in the Nationwide Series with the Aaron's 312 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton , Georgia . Just a day later, he beat Jimmie Johnson by 0.02 seconds in the Golden Corral 500 on the same track, claiming his first Sprint Cup victory. Until then, no driver had achieved this one-two on this route. Edwards is also the first driver to achieve his first victory in the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup in one weekend.

On June 12, 2005 Edwards won his second Sprint Cup victory at the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond , Pennsylvania . He achieved his third victory on October 30th at the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he was able to achieve his first victory in the Sprint Cup in the spring.

Edwards (No. 99) sprinting to the exit of the pit lane

The fifth win followed at Texas Motor Speedway . Edwards was the tenth driver to win there, but already the fifth for Roush Racing. Since he had already driven the last races of the 2004 season in the Sprint Cup, he was not allowed to take part in the competition for the best newcomer in the series. He finished the championship itself in third place. The 2006 season was much worse. Edwards couldn't get a win and the best finish was a runner-up on Michigan Speedway . Accordingly, he fell back to twelfth place in the championship.

On May 18, 2007, Edwards took pole position for the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge 2007 . He almost led the total of 40 laps of the race, but fell back to third in the last laps and thus missed the main race. On June 17, Edwards won the Citizens Bank 400 after 52 races without a win . Shortly thereafter, on August 25, 2007, he won his second race of the season with the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the interview after the race, he commented this victory as the greatest victory of his career. After the first 26 races of the season, Edwards was sixth in the championship and qualified for the second time after 2004 for the Chase for the Nextel Cup . On September 23, he took his third win of the season at the Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway . However, during the subsequent inspection of his racing car it was found that it had fallen below the minimum height at the rear right. Edwards was allowed to keep his victory, but was deducted 25 points in the championship standings as a penalty. At the end of the season he finished ninth in the championship.

At the beginning of the 2008 season , Edwards won the second race of the season, the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana , California . A week later he won the UAW Dodge 400 . For the third race in Atlanta Edwards had to give up all his previous championship counters because of an oil filter that did not meet the regulations. Edwards won his fourth win of the season at the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 in Pocono . In April he won his third race of the season with the Samsung 500 . This was followed by victories at the UAW Dodge 400 in Las Vegas , the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway and the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway . In the NASCAR Nationwide Series , he won the Camping World RV Rental 250 , the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, and the Carfax 250 in 2008 .

In the ninth race of the 2009 season , the Aaron's 499 on the Talladega Superspeedway , he survived a serious accident unharmed. Edwards, who had been leading up to that point, touched Brad Keselowski , who had been second to date, in the last corner when he tried to block his lane. This caused Edwards to spin so that his car underwent, took off slightly, and collided with the front of third-placed Ryan Newman . The impact catapulted Edwards' car into the air, spun on its own axis during the flight and then hit the safety fence. Edwards escaped the accident unharmed, crossed the finish line on foot and was classified in 24th place. However, seven spectators were injured by flying parts.

In 2011 he was at the top of the Sprint Cup for a long time , but had to admit defeat in the last race of the season to Tony Stewart, who was tied on points , as he won five races. Edwards himself only won the Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas, as well as the Sprint Cup All-Star Race , which does not count towards the championship.

Before the 2012 season, Edwards announced that he would no longer compete in the Nationwide Series to focus on the Sprint Cup. Nevertheless, he still started in a race in the Nationwide Series in Watkins Glen , which he was able to win. In the Sprint Cup, he missed the chase for the first time since 2006.

In 2013 he won the second race of the season in Phoenix , followed by a second victory in Richmond in September .

In the 2014 season he won two races in Bristol and Sonoma , the latter being his first Cup Series win on a circuit and his last win for Roush Fenway Racing. In the summer he announced that he would compete for Joe Gibbs Racing the following year .

In 2015, Joe Gibbs Racing expanded from three to four cars, while Edwards drove the newly added number 19. He won the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and the Southern 500 in Darlington . In the Chase he could not qualify for the round of the last four, he finished the season in fifth place.

In the 2016 season Edwards was able to win three races, he made it to the "Final Four", which could become the Nascar Champion in the last race in Miami. After it had looked for a long time in the race that Edwards would be the title favorite, an accident with Joey Logano put an end to his title hopes a few laps before the end.

In January 2017, Edwards announced his retirement from NASCAR, but he wanted to keep the option open for further racing.

Trivia

• On June 6, 2007, Edwards won the Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway , a charity race on loose surfaces, which is organized by Tony Stewart , the owner of the speedway, among others . In addition to drivers from other motorsport disciplines, more than 20 Sprint Cup drivers took part.

• During the race weekend of the Auto Club 500 Edwards took the television series of shooting the fifth season 24 of FOX part. In it he plays homeland security agent Jim Hall.

• Carl Edwards has appeared on the covers of ESPN The Magazine and Men's Health , showing off his muscular torso.

• Edwards is popular with the fans because of his backflip, which he celebrates after (almost) every victory. Because of this popularity, Ford shot several commercials in which a young Carl flips backwards from a cot, a sofa, and other things.

• During his rain demolition victory in the autumn race in Phoenix in 2016, Carl Edwards did not do a backflip because the track was already too wet and it seemed too dangerous for him.

Web links

Commons : Carl Edwards  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Carl Edwards' official website
• Profile on NASCAR.com
• Driver statistics on racing-reference.info

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Edwards opts out of Nationwide Series in 2012 - Jan 15, 2012 - NASCAR.COM. (No longer available online.) January 18, 2012, archived from the original on January 18, 2012 ; Retrieved May 3, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Carl Edwards confirms farewell to the NASCAR series - US racing at Motorsport-Total.com . In: Motorsport-Total.com . ( motorsport-total.com [accessed June 22, 2017]).