As part of a Hall of Fame induction speed that many claim belongs in the Hall of Fame itself, Carl Edwards expressed a continued theme of gratitude for everyone that allowed him to reach and succeed at the highest level of NASCAR.
Edwards, who won 28 races in the Cup Series with Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, dramatically and unexpectedly retired after his defeat in the 2016 championship race. That night, after dominating the race that could have delivered him the championship his career had built towards, was stripped from him when Joey Logano wiped them both out.
Jimmie Johnson went on to win the championship that night, his record-tying seventh.
Edwards has never directly drawn a correlation between his retirement almost two months later to what happened that night, but many have speculated that the moment left a deep impact in some way on him.
What he has said publicly, is that he went home from that race and just decided that he needed to devote more time to his family, and that’s what he did.
Edwards addressed that in his speech on Friday night.
“But 2016 … Homestead was one of the best races I’ve run in my life,” Edwards said. “I don’t care that we don’t have that championship. I knew with about 20 laps to go in that race what it felt like to have a championship team to run the championship race with (crew chief) Dave Rodgers and those guys. That was special. That restart didn’t work out, and this is something, the theme of this is gratitude and this is going to sound strange, but I’m so grateful that we didn’t win that championship. I’m so grateful. It gave me time to go home and think about a few things. I looked at my career, it was beyond my wildest dreams. I mean, beyond my wildest dreams.
“I didn’t know my kids. And because of brave men like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other athletes, I was keenly aware there are real risks to hitting your head over and over. And I said, hey, this season’s done, I’m going to move to the next one.”
Edwards also expressed gratitude to Joe Gibbs in his speech, not only for his faith and leadership, but also how willing the Super Bowl winning head coach was in facilitating his ask with years left on his driving contract.
He spoke to the Athletic prior to the speech about any regrets he had or didn’t have about the retirement.
“I don’t regret leaving,” he said. “I could have probably done it better. “I wasn’t good at it. I never even considered doing something like that. So if I had to do it over again, I probably could have done it in a more gracious way.”
He also says he’s kept his distance over the past decade because he thought there would be resentment towards him because of it.
“I really thought that because I left so abruptly, I felt a little bit of guilt around that,” Edwards said. “And I felt like it was totally fair for the sport to hold that against me and keep me at a distance. So I never imagined they would welcome me in this way. It’s the first time I really felt like I understood what the NASCAR family is. It’s so strange for NASCAR to invite me back like this with this honor after I walked away eight years ago.
“It’s unbelievable the level of acceptance and love and respect for me and all that. It’s just been overwhelming.”
