Edwards steps away from car
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Carl Edwards listed reason after reason for stepping away from full-time NASCAR competition this season, less than two months removed from nearly winning his first Cup title.
He’s content with his career accomplishments. He wants to spend more time on his outside interests. He’s healthy and doesn’t want that to change.
Edwards, one of NASCAR’s top stars and driver for a top organization, really seemed at peace with a personal decision he made right before Christmas. But for a brief moment, he had to turn his back to the audience and compose himself.
“Yeah, I just want to be a good person, you know?” he said, his bottom lip quivering.
Edwards quickly recovered and returned to script. He has so many outside interests — aviation, agriculture, a possible career in politics — that he literally has no idea what will come next.
“There’s no life raft I am jumping on to, I’m just jumping,” he said. “This is a pure, simple, personal decision.”
Edwards had one year remaining on his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, and he came 10 laps away from winning his first Cup title two months ago. He informed Joe Gibbs in late December he did not want to race this season, and used about 40 minutes Wednesday at team headquarters to explain his reasoning.
“This was such a surprise,” Gibbs said. “When he sat down in front of me and shared what he was thinking, I was totally surprised. I said, `This is a huge decision, let’s take some time with this.”’
Four days later, Edwards and Gibbs spoke on the telephone and the team owner knew the decision was made.
“I could tell he was totally committed,” Gibbs said.
Roughly 10 minutes after Edwards finished, Gibbs began a second news conference in which Mexican Daniel Suarez was introduced as the replacement for Edwards’ No. 19 Toyota. Suarez is the reigning Xfinity Series champion and the first foreign-born winner of a national series crown.
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