In his first media availability since that snowy morning at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2017 when he shocked the NASCAR world with his unexpected retirement, Carl Edwards had a lot to say, left some things subtlety unsaid, and above all else, expressed gratitude towards the NASCAR community at large.
Edwards was nominated to the NASCAR Hall of Fame last week, and despite a request from the sanctioning body to be available at 4 p.m., when the announcement would be made, the 44-year-old was in the air.
He wasn’t going to plan his day around something that he did not realistically expect to happen.
After all, he dramatically did not win a Cup Series championship nor did he win a Daytona 500. He did, however, win 28 times at the highest level across 445 starts with Roush Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. He won the 2007 Busch Series championship.
Edwards was also one of the most popular stars at a time the sport was never more popular and he contributed a great deal to that fame.
There is also a sense that he should have been a Cup Series champion and that how he lost the 2016 winner take all championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2016 played some small factor in a decision he would make within 50 days afterwards.
He dominated that race but was crashed by Joey Logano on a late restart set up by a questionable caution called by race control. His friends say it left him bitter, frustrated and broken-hearted and that it combined with his work-life imbalances to make him reconsider what he wanted to do moving forward.
Edwards gracefully danced around the topic of the 2016 Ford 400 but conceded the outcome changed the direction of his life in some way.
“Definitely, I would have rather not have had a caution come out,” Edwards said. “But, you never know the outcome of that and like I’ve said, I wouldn’t change a thing. I doubt …
He paused.
“I think things would have been a lot different if we won that championship and I really like how things have gone since then.”
He also expressed a degree of understanding why it played out that way that night.
“NASCAR is in the business of creating a sport for the fans,” Edwards said. “And I know from private conversations I have had that NASCAR is trying their best, and I respect that. The outcome at various points of my career, and that race specifically, I did not like it but I 100 percent respect the sport and the people that run it. It gave me a life and opportunities that I never could have imagined.
“But as far as being an impetus for my stepping away, I’ll go right back to what I said when I did, and I said it clearly but maybe not clearly enough, I just needed time. I woke up and I realized, at the end of my career, I’m not spending time doing anything other than racing.”
Edwards spent 20 years trying to be the greatest race car driver he could be that it came at the sacrifice of everything else in his life. He determined that it was no longer a sacrifice he wanted to make when combined with everything he had already accomplished while also having both youth and good health on his side.
“Yes, my favorite way to race for a championship is a full season and not just one restart, that’s just me,” Edwards said. “I like cars to drive a certain kind of way and maybe other people don’t but I am 100 percent grateful to NASCAR, no hard feelings.”
Did he feel wronged or cheated?
Edwards struggled to answer that at first. He started and stopped a couple of times.
“I would just like to say that officially respect the way NASCAR runs the sport in the way they need to run it. I don’t want to say anything negative.”
Edwards also said definitely, to a follow-up about 2016 at Homestead, that the outcome that night didn’t directly lead to his decision to retire 50 days later.
“I may have been unclear, and I want to be explicit, that I did not leave the sport because of the way 2016 ended,” Edwards said. “Period.”
Through it all, Edwards said he wouldn’t change a thing about his life and career both before that night at Homestead and all the things that have taken place since. He has sailed the ocean from the Florida coast to the boot heel of Italy.
He has been a devoted husband to Kate and their children Michael and Anne. Edwards practices jujitsu and says that rolling on a mat now gives him the same competitive push that driving race cars once did.
And despite the relatively short length of his career, it all resulted in his peers and observers electing him to the highest honor in the sport, the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It humbles him.
“I think of a hall of fame person as someone who gave more,” Edwards said. “I guess that’s why it shocks me. It’s hard to explain. I see myself as someone who won the lottery in racing. I wanted to drive race cars more than anything in the world and I got to do it.
“But once I stepped away, I hoped the people in the sport didn’t feel like I was being disrespectful and I hope they know how much I appreciated it. The sport gave me so much and I just didn’t feel like I gave more.”
But at the same time, Edwards also looks forward to giving more because he will be the youngest active Hall of Famer upon his induction in February and he plans to being available, present and generous with his time to further grow the sport in his own way.
This isn’t a result of the nomination either as Edwards said he was moved by being named to the 75 greatest drivers list last season and that’s why he attended the Southern and spent 45 minutes in the broadcast booth as well.
Edwards apologized if the way he decided to retire was perceived as a disrespect but he believed that if he didn’t spend time with his family, there was no one else in the world who could be dad and husband to them.
“At the same time, so many people reached out over the years and was so kind,” Edwards said. “To be honored with the NASCAR 75 greatest programs, that was such a huge honor and I was the only person that could express that.
“So that was the impetus for coming back last year but everyone who reached out with such kindness over the ways that I done things was something I had to respect.”
But one thing he isn’t going to do ever again is drive a Cup Series car. It’s done. It’s over.
“I respect too much what it takes to be great,” Edwards said. “I lived that life every day for 20 years and my idea of fun isn’t doing something just to do it. I want to be great at something and it would be disrespectful to everyone that is striving to be great to go do it just for fun.”
Edwards said he has enjoyed driving the simulator to better understand what today’s Cup Series cars drives like and he’s not opposed to racing something that isn’t a Cup Series car in a one-off capacity because he still enjoys driving race cars but it’s over in the Cup Series and it has been for seven years now.
Holistically, Edwards said his nomination and induction could not come at a better time for his bandwidth to participate in the sport.
“My mission here, and I hope I’m doing well in this press conference,” Edwards said. “I want to express my gratitude. I want to express how much I appreciate the time I spent in this sport, how much work everyone did for me, how kind you were, and the grace you show me — how much enjoyment I took from it.
“My mission is to just make sure all of you, everyone in the sport, the fans, you all know how much I appreciate you. Standing from afar, I really appreciate it more now. If I can use this honor, and this time to let people know how I feel, my gratitude, that’s what I want to accomplish now.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.