Last year, when Kyle Larson had to miss practice for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro to qualify into his debut Indianapolis 500, he turned to recently retired Cup Series legend Kevin Harvick to shake down his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5.
It made for a good story, Harvick getting to spend a day with Hendrick while also getting valuable perspective for his current role as a FOX Sports television analyst but was also practical with his recent experience.
Larson will once again enter the Indianapolis 500 this May and will again need a substitute driver to practice for him while he is away, this time suggesting newly inducted Hall of Famer Carl Edwards.
What did ‘Cousin Carl’ have to say about the invitation?
“Actually, this is cool my friend sent me that and really it’s an honor,” Edwards said during a media Zoom call on Thursday. “I mean he’s one of the fastest guys to ever drive one of these cars and for him to say that, I don’t know if he’s messing with me, I’m very likely to crash a car if I were to get in one right now. But that is kind of interesting, but I’d have to go run the sim or something like that and see if I can even get around North Wilkesboro. But nobody’s officially talked to me about it, no.”
That wasn’t a ‘no.’
“No, it’s never a total no, I like options but I don’t know,” Edwards said. “I’d say, yeah, it’s no for now, but I’d drive a sim and check it out.”
Edwards, now 45, won 28 times at the highest level with 220 top-10s in 445 starts across Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. He unexpectedly retired in 2016 after a four-win season and a brutally heartbreaking final four appearance at Homestead where he was crashed from the lead by Joey Logano, which led to Jimmie Johnson winning his seventh championship.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
