Entertainment Cautions, Fear of Injury Led Carl Ewards to Retirement

Carl Edwards shocked the NASCAR world by retiring following the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season, a year in which he made it into the Championship 4, and had a championship sewn up before a late-race caution bunched the field back up. Edwards was ultimately wiped out from the race in a crash with fellow championship contender Joey Logano on the restart immediately following the late-race caution.

Edwards, who again shocked the racing world with the announcement earlier this week that he will return to the NASCAR world as he'll be part of Prime Video's inaugural NASCAR broadcast team, opened up about his much-debated shocking decision to retire prior to the 2017 season, despite having years left on his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, in an interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Dale Jr. Download.

Edwards says he encountered a strange week leading into the Championship Race at Homestead in 2016. The driver was without a motorhome at Homestead due to it breaking down a couple of times on the way to the track. He says he was nearly crashed out in practice, and he also had some odd things going on in his personal life. The odd week crescendoed with his championship hopes being dashed with a heartbreaking crash on a late-race restart, which was set up by a questionable caution, which was thrown by NASCAR after Dylan Lupton cut down a tire, but was able to get to the apron of the track without incident.

That caution, which Edwards alleges was thrown on purpose for entertainment purposes, was the final straw, which ultimately led to the decision for him to call it quits.

"...There was something about that caution. It was like the final thing to say, 'Damnit, you're not supposed to win this thing. This is not supposed to happen.' And I know NASCAR was throwing those cautions to make it more exciting. That's a fact," Edwards explained. "And I specifically talked to people about it, and that's that. And we're all in this sport to entertain, and they were trying their hardest at the time. But my point in all of that, it was an outstanding set of circumstances. It was very odd, but now I realize it was the best thing in the world for me. And I was able to get the message that I did not belong in a race car, that was not what I was supposed to be doing with my life."

From his days racing at the local level, to the years of campaigning for a team owner in the NASCAR National Series ranks to take a chance on him (Edwards famously carried around business cards, and would hand them out to anybody he encountered in the garage area prior to landing his big beak), Edwards tirelessly poured every ounce of his effort into one goal -- becoming a NASCAR Cup Series champion.

In 2011, Edwards came as close as you humanly could get to winning a championship, as he tied Tony Stewart, but lost out on a tiebreaker. That hurt the driver, it cut deep. Five years later, he was in position again in his second season with Joe Gibbs Racing, and when he felt like he had done everything the right way to win the championship, only to see it taken away by a questionable call, it sent him into a spiral, mentally.

What transpired on that fateful evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2016, caused Edwards, who was married and had a growing family he had been neglecting to chase his dreams, to reflect on his career, and whether he wanted to continue pursuing a NASCAR Cup Series championship.

"I wanted to win that championship. It's everything, I mean you know, it's everything that I had worked for," Edwards said, "That's the prize you want more than anything in the world. And yes, I believe that was snatched [from me], so that's part of it, yes. And that was very difficult, okay. So, I had to look at it and say okay, let's just go to the next year, let's go to 2017, let me just be real smart. Let me just think this through. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go and I'm going to continue to put everything in my life second in the backseat. Starting at Daytona, I'm going to drive the hell out of this race car like I've been doing for 13, 14 years, and I'm going to run this thing all the way to the end. And give everything I've got, another year of my life..."

Then, Edwards says hearing Dale Earnhardt Jr. publicly discuss his head injuries, which ultimately led to Earnhardt's retirement in 2017, opened his eyes to the fact that there was more at stake on the race track than trophies and championships. He knew any hit sustained on the track could be the flip of the switch that would make it where his goal of making up for lost time with his family after his racing career was over was an unattainable goal.

The threat of injury coupled with NASCAR Race Control calling cautions based on entertainment value really made Edwards question whether driving a race car is what he should have been doing with his life.

"The head injury stuff started to really be a factor for me. You know, because I didn't think about that. And now I'm like, man, I'm not just giving up my time now, there's all sorts of things I might be giving up in the future. And then, I'm going to get to Homestead at the end of 2017, I'm going to do everything just right, and they're going to throw a caution with five [laps] to go, and we're going to put all of this on a restart? And I thought, 'Damn, I don't know if spending a whole year of my life and all of the things you give up and possibly give up for one restart?' I don't know. That's a big deal. You have to weigh that."

Edwards wrestled with what to do following the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race until one day, it was crystal clear. Edwards' desire to walk away from the sport had become just as prevelant as the overwhelming strength of his passion to pursue a career in the NASCAR National Series in the early 2000s. That revelation led to Edwards to do the unthinkable. After having a championship within his grasp just weeks prior, he chose to walk away from racing at the age of 36.

"And then it was like an epiphany after 2016, the constellation of everything. I knew the same way, it was the same intensity of feeling, I tried to fight it," Edwards admitted. "I went down to Key West, I said, 'Kate, I am losing my mind, I gotta go get this straight,' I went down by myself. Got a hotel room, sat on the beach in this hammock, tried to think through everything, and I made a deal [with myself]. I was like, nope. It doesn't seem right. It's not right if I do it. I know I don't want to race because I'm worried about not being around my family. I'm worried about getting hurt. I'm worried about doing everything and losing it on a final caution.

"And I thought, 'That's stupid.' You're a racer, you're going to go do this, and you can do it well. You can change the way you do it. You won't run the superspeedway races, that'll solve that. You'll spend more time with your family, that'll solve that. And screw their cautions, you can beat them anyway. And then I got halfway home to Missouri, and I could not stop this feeling. And I turned right, went in and told Coach [Joe Gibbs] that I'm done."

Edwards, a 28-time NASCAR Cup Series race-winning driver, and perennial championship contender walked away from the sport cold turkey. Since walking away, Edwards has gone all-in on spending time with his family, wife Kate, and children Annie and Michael.

It didn't take long for Edwards to realize he had made the right decision after he chose to hang up his helmet, gloves, and firesuit.

"It was like a month or two in [to being retired], I was lying in bed with Kate. My son woke up, and I heard him running down the hallway, and he jumped into bed with me. He jumped into my side of the bed, and that's the first time that had ever happened," Edwards emotionally recalled with tears welling up into his eyes. "Because I was the guy who showed up and left, and Kate was the parent, you know. I thought, holy crap. And Kate just said, 'This is what you've been missing.' And that was pretty shocking to me, so, yeah, it's been a hell of a good thing since I stepped out of a race car."

If you haven't had a chance to listen to Edwards' full interview on the Dale Jr. Download, the full episode is embedded in the player below.

Recommended Articles