Carl Edwards has surfaced
Out of the blue, Carl Edwards stepped away from NASCAR following a championship contending season in 2016. In his final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Edwards went off on the hook following a late-race crash while racing for the lead.
Yesterday, Carl Edwards surfaced on the airwaves. He discussed his current lifestyle and discussed the possible rumors that have circulated.
“No. I don’t have any plans to come back. But, I do miss a lot of people,” told Claire B. Lang on Dialed In via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“I stayed in touch with a lot of folks. For me, it truly has been great and I’m appreciative to Joe Gibbs and everybody for allowing me to go do all these other things that I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve been enjoying it, it’s been good.”
Carl Edwards has put down the helmet. However, the suitcase is still very active. Edwards has been traveling a lot and spending time with his family while balancing time at his Missouri farm.
Edwards abruptly ended his NASCAR career. After 13 years in the sport, 445 races and 28 wins his NASCAR career came to a close.
This led people to speculate. Some of the rumors included: Edwards upset with the new NASCAR; The family of Daniel Suarez paid him off to take over the #19; Edwards jumped off the Ford ship with plans to head to a new manufacture; Edwards wanted to run for office; Edwards’ wife who’s a neurologist, encouraged the retirement following the crash in his final race; Carl Edwards is dead.
“Yes. Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. To quote Mark Twain. But no, I’m just basically doing what I told everybody I was doing.”
“It was interesting to hear all the different ideas. But, it’s really pretty simple.”
Related: Carl Edwards is retiring simply because he wants to (VIDEO announcement)
“There’s definitely a couple races that I would like to be a part of. But, for the most part, it’s a real net positive and I’ve been having a lot of fun.”
Dirt Racing?
Edwards wasn’t asked about a return to dirt racing specifically. However, in November 2017, Edwards said he might be interested in returning to the dirt tracks.
“I have a feeling I’ll drive some dirt cars. I love dirt racing,” Edwards said back in November. “I miss it. Basically for me, I was riding my bicycle the other day and I was thinking, ‘Man, I just about got this door closed.’ In my mind.”
He also hinted at making a call to Kenny Wallace, the avid dirt racer. He also discussed the famed Gateway Dirt Nationals which is a dirt race run indoors in his home state of Missouri.
Related: Carl Edwards discusses a possible return to dirt racing
Running for office?
Is Carl Edwards going to run for political office in the state of Missouri? That was one of the more discussed rumors following the retirement of the NASCAR driver.
“You never know. I think probably, like almost everyone listening to this channel right now, I believe in America. And I believe the constitution is a set of rules that let us have all this success and all this freedom.”
“Like anyone, I care about that being there for generations to come. So, yeah, if there’s a chance in the future for me to help that cause, to try to lend some assistance to not letting us get off track. Then heck yeah, I’d consider it.”
“But, no. There’s no campaign started. I am not going to be doing anything, anytime soon.”
Between 2004-2015, Carl Edwards had career earnings of $80,473,708. That’s in the NASCAR Cup Series alone. That number doesn’t include earnings from his final season in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR stopped releasing earnings that year.
He netted an additional $14,561,083 via NASCAR Xfinity Series results between 2002-2012. Finally, his 60 truck series starts earned $1,374,870 in payouts.
