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Carl Michael Edwards Jr. (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for NASCAR on Prime Video.
He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. 99 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing from 2005–2014. He won the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series championship and nearly won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title, but lost by a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart. Edwards is known for doing a backflip off his car to celebrate his victories. In 2023, he was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers, and in 2025, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
On June 12, 2005, Edwards picked up his second Nextel Cup win by taking the checkered flag at the Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The weekend was somewhat bittersweet for Edwards, as the Busch Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee had been rained out the night before, and rescheduled for the same day. Also, qualifying for that race had been rained out, and in NASCAR, when qualifying is rained out, the starting grid is set by owner points. Because of this, Edwards convinced car owner Jack Roush to let Hank Parker Jr. drive the car. Hank ended up driving the car to a 20th-place finish. Since Edwards did not start the race he was not awarded any points, and as such lost a 74-point lead in Busch Series points and dropped to fourth in the standings; Edwards never recovered from the missed race and finished the season third in points, well behind series champion Martin Truex Jr. Edwards got his third win of 2005 on October 30 in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, sweeping both of the Nextel Cup races at Atlanta for the 2005 season.
Edwards got his fourth win at Texas and became the tenth different driver to win at that track and the fifth to win there for Roush Racing. By finishing the remainder of the 2004 season in the No. 99 car, he was not eligible to compete for the Cup Series Rookie of the Year, but did win the 2005 Busch Series Rookie of the Year; he finished third in the Cup standings (with teammate Greg Biffle actually winning the tiebreaker for second by virtue of his series-best six wins).
On November 3, 2007, Edwards clinched his first NASCAR Busch Series Championship by finishing eleventh at the O'Reilly Challenge. This came despite struggling in the second half of the Busch Series season. Edwards became the nineteenth different Busch Series Champion in the 26 years of the modern-era series. Edwards would end up becoming the final Busch Series Champion as Nationwide would take over sponsoring duties of the second-tier series in 2008.
Following the Las Vegas win, on March 5, 2008, NASCAR penalized Edwards, owner Jack Roush, and Car chief Bob Osborne for violations found in post-race inspection. The No. 99 car driven by Edwards was found to be in violation of sections 12-4-A, 12-4-Q, and 20–2.1J of the 2008 NASCAR rulebook, specifically, the cover was off the oil tank. The violations were found during post-race inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 2. The following penalties were levied by NASCAR: Edwards was fined one hundred driver points and stripped of his ten bonus points for the Las Vegas win, which would be used to seed him in the Chase for the Championship (should he make the Chase). Roush was fined one hundred owner points, and Osborne was suspended for six races and fined $100,000. Edwards was leading the Kobalt Tools 500, looking for his third consecutive victory, but on lap 274 his car began to smoke and his crew diagnosed the problem as a broken transmission. Edwards went on to finish 42nd. On April 7, he won the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway for his third win of the season.
On May 2, Edwards announced that he had signed a multi-year contract to remain with Roush Fenway Racing. On August 3, Edwards got his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season, surviving a rain delay and fuel shortage to win at Pocono. On August 17, Edwards dominated the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway, capturing his fifth win of the season and surpassing his career high season win total of four in 2005. On August 24, Edwards earned another victory by winning the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The win was his second consecutive and sixth of the season. He did a bump and run on Kyle Busch in the closing laps to take the win from the dominant driver of the night. Busch showed his displeasure with Edwards after the race by driving into the side of Edwards' car, after which Edwards retaliated by spinning Kyle out. On October 26, Edwards earned his seventh victory of the season with a win in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta. On November 2, Edwards tied Kyle Busch for the series wins lead by winning his second Dickies 500 at Texas, his eighth win of the season. He reduced his deficit in points to 106 behind Jimmie Johnson. On November 9 at Phoenix, Edwards finished fourth behind race winner Johnson, who, by virtue of the win and the ten bonus points he earned for leading one lap and the most laps, took a 141-point lead over Edwards. Edwards won the season finale at Homestead to take over the series wins lead for the season, extending his career high win total to nine. However, he did not finish far enough ahead of Johnson to take the Sprint Cup championship, as Johnson finished fifteenth and led at least one lap to win the championship by 69 points over Edwards. However, if the Chase had not been implemented in 2008, Edwards would’ve won the Sprint Cup Series Championship over Johnson by sixteen points on a fuel strategy call by him and his crew chief Bob Osborne.
In the No. 99 car, on the final lap of the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega in April, Edwards survived one of the most violent crashes in NASCAR history. Heading into the tri-oval with the lead, Edwards turned down into Brad Keselowski's path. Keselowski touched, and Edwards spun backwards, then went airborne. He was propelled higher when he was hit by Ryan Newman, whose hood was destroyed, and flipped airborne into the catch fence. Eight fans were injured, including a woman with a broken jaw; she was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, Edwards emerged from the car unharmed and sprinted on foot over the start-finish line to the cheers of the crowd and with Fox Commentator Mike Joy commenting "shades of Ricky Bobby." Although he did cross the finish line (on foot), he was still handed a DNF. When Edwards was interviewed on Larry King Live, he responded, "I'm kind of a Will Ferrell fan. He did that at the end of Talladega Nights."
He had a far more successful Nationwide Series season than a Sprint Cup Series season, including a win at the NAPA 200 at Montreal. In the race, Edwards had a top-ten position until a final green-white-checker finish put him in third spot on the restart. Edwards passed Andrew Ranger for second and recovered from spinning his tires on the restart to catch up with dominant leader Marcos Ambrose. Edwards was unable to pass the Australian champion until the final turn of the final lap, when Ambrose jumped over the curb too high. Edwards passed him and won the race in a big shock to the racing world; a finish considered to be one of the greatest in the sport. Edwards was elated about getting his first road course win at one of the most famous tracks in the world; he has said that the Montreal race is his favorite winning performance, and that Ambrose had chatted with him that week and taught him about the track during meetings, which he credited for his success.
He experienced another winless season in 2009 as his best finish was second at Pocono Raceway. Although Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series championship, Edwards finished second in the series and scored five wins, finishing 210 points behind the winner.
Edwards won the first-ever Nationwide Series race at Road America in late June. He followed that up with a controversial win at the first Nationwide race of the season at Gateway, turning Brad Keselowski coming off the final turn to win the race. He won his third Nationwide race of the year at Texas Motor Speedway after dominating the race and a late race restart, where he was accused of jumping the start by Kyle Busch. He finished the season second in points for the third year in a row.
Edwards' season was a slow start in 2010. Going into Daytona in July, he was in danger of missing the Chase while barely running in the top twelve in points. The whole Roush Fenway team marks Chicagoland as the turning point for the organization, where Edwards finished second to David Reutimann. Edwards' performance increased from this point, with him winning the pole at Watkins Glen and Richmond, and leading laps at Atlanta and Richmond.
On November 12, 2010, Edwards broke the track record for the fastest qualifying lap at Phoenix International Raceway, scoring his sixth career pole. Carl went on to win the Kobalt Tools 500 on November 14, 2010, with his Aflac Ford Fusion and breaking a seventy-race winless streak going on from the 2008 Ford 400 at Homestead. The next weekend, Edwards qualified second at Homestead and went on to dominate and win the race, with season champion Jimmie Johnson finishing second. The late-season rally took Edwards to a fourth-place points finish.
For the rest of the season, Edwards raced with consistency and made the 2011 Chase field. After the Good Sam Club 500, he was in a tight points battle with Tony Stewart, but Stewart won the championship by holding off Edwards to win the 2011 Ford 400. They were tied in points, but Stewart won the tiebreaker, having five wins to Edwards' one. However, if the chase was not implemented in 2011, Carl Edwards would’ve ended up beating Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick in the championship fight and would have locked up the championship a week early by finishing second at Phoenix. He would’ve been the first person to win the championship with only one win in the season since Matt Kenseth in 2003. In the Nationwide Series, Edwards contested the full season once again, but was unable to compete for the Drivers' Championship. Due to a scheduling conflict, he was forced to miss the Bucyrus 200 while the Cup Series raced at Infineon. Edwards won a career high eight races (including the May Dover race, which ended similarly to the previous year's Gateway race, only Edwards did not touch Logano like he thought he did) and gave Jack Roush the Nationwide Series Owners' Championship. NASCAR Nationwide Series Owners Championship after Homestead, Jayski
At Texas, Edwards ran well until he made an unscheduled pit stop to check the lug on the car, sending him back to thirtieth, but was able to charge through over the course of 234 laps to finish eighth.
On August 11, 2012, Edwards entered and won his only race of the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide season at Watkins Glen. On September 8, 2012, during the race at the Federation Auto Parts 400, he finished seventeenth and missed the chase for the first time since the 2006 season.
On July 6, 2013, at the 2013 Coke Zero 400, Edwards had the potential to win until turn 2 on the last lap. He got pushed up the track by Marcos Ambrose and created a mini-pileup, putting Edwards at the end of the lead lap. The caution did not fly. The next week, he was eleventh most of the day and finished eighth at the 2013 Camping World RV Sales 301.
Edwards won his second race of the year at Richmond in September, assuming the lead on a cycle of pit stops and holding off Kurt Busch in the last laps, earning him an additional three points for Chase seeding. Edwards' win, however, caused controversy as it was discovered that Edwards jumped in front of the leader Paul Menard on a restart to take the lead for the final time; an action that NASCAR had given penalties for in the past. Following the controversy, NASCAR changed the rules to permit anybody to beat the leader to the start-finish line as long as they accelerate past the restart line first.
Though Edwards finished eleventh at Chicago and ninth at New Hampshire to start the Chase, his Chase chances were ended with a 35th-place finish at Dover, caused by an ill-handling car. He then had a fifth-place finish at Kansas, a tenth-place finish at Charlotte, a seventeenth-place finish at Talladega, and a twelfth-place finish at Martinsville. At Texas, Edwards started on the pole and battled Jimmie Johnson for the lead on several restarts, before his engine blew up and he finished 37th. At Phoenix, Edwards and Johnson nearly wrecked each other in turn 1 mid-race, but both cars continued on. Edwards ran out of gas with two laps left leading. Edwards finished 21st. He ended the season with a twelfth-place finish at Homestead and a thirteenth-place finish in the final points standings.
Weeks later, Edwards nearly won the All-Star Race for a second time after starting on pole. However, he was edged by Jamie McMurray for the win as McMurray passed him with eight laps to go to win the $1M purse. In a post-race interview, Edwards said, "I'm disappointed but Jamie did a good job on the restart. He cleared me and beat me fair and square. My hats off to him. I wish I won but I was just beaten."
In late May 2014, it was rumored that Edwards was leaving Roush's team for good. Edwards kept quiet for months over the rumors. During NASCAR RaceDay, Edwards stated he declined an offer from Richard Childress Racing, which made everybody speculate that Edwards already had plans for 2015. On June 19, 2014, Jayski's Silly Season Site stated he heard "that the deal between Edwards and Joe Gibbs Racing is done, no word when it will be announced." On July 27, 2014, RFR announced the 2015 lineup, with Edwards not listed.
On June 22, 2014, Edwards led the final nineteen laps of the 2014 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma for his 23rd career NSCS win, his first road course win of his career, his second win of 2014, and his final win for Roush.
On the day of the 2014 Brickyard 400, Edwards admitted to the media that he was switching teams in 2015, effective immediately after 2014; but because a rule in his contract forbade him from mentioning his destination until September, he only mentioned the switch from Roush. According to Jack Roush, the parting was mutual and not because of any falling-out.
Edwards began his season on a low note, wrecking at the end of the Daytona 500 and losing the draft late in the race in Atlanta. He rebounded at Las Vegas with a terrific run. While running close to the lead and leading a couple laps, Edwards tangled with Kasey Kahne with less than twenty laps to go. Edwards — while moving under Kahne — knocked Kahne into the SAFER barrier. In an apparent act of retaliation, Kahne forced Edwards out of the draft, wrecking Edwards and himself. Despite the payback, Edwards took responsibility for the collision, stating: "I was just racing as hard as I can. It's completely my fault, Kasey did a good job. I just got sucked up into him there off of turn 4 and tore up the right side a little bit and got loose into Turn 1 and that was it... that's definitely my fault. I feel bad for Kasey."
In the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Edwards took the lead early in the race, fell back, but managed to regain the lead close to the end, and held off former teammate Greg Biffle to win his 24th career win, snapping a 31-race winless streak. In July, he won the pole position for both the 5-hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. At Darlington, Edwards took his second win of the year after rallying back from being two laps down to the leaders.
In the Challenger Round of the Chase, Edwards started with a second-place finish at Chicagoland, coming back from a speeding penalty. At New Hampshire, he won the pole position, led nineteen laps, and finished fifth. At Dover, Edwards started third and finished fifteenth. He was eliminated in the Round of 8, but finished fifth in points.
On January 9, 2017, FOX Sports reported Edwards planned to step away from NASCAR to pursue other opportunities; Daniel Suárez replaced him in the 2017 season. In his retirement press conference on January 11, 2017, Edwards said, “I don't have a life raft I'm jumping onto, I'm just jumping. And in a way, that makes it easier. This is a pure, simple, personal decision.”
Edwards participated in the 2008 Race of Champions, partnered with Tanner Foust. While in the individual event, Edwards faced seven-time Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher and defeated him. In the next round, however, Edwards was defeated by eventual runner-up David Coulthard.
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He played in the annual Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in 2009 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. During the game, he sported a Boston Red Sox cap because of the affiliation his race team Roush Fenway Racing has to the owners of the Boston Red Sox.
Edwards guest hosted on WWE Raw on February 8, 2010. Edwards also appeared a few weeks before the 2012 Daytona 500, saying to John Cena that he could wave the green flag for the start of the race; weather postponing the race to Monday kept Cena from doing so as he had to honor a WWE commitment in Portland.
In 2015, Edwards was a NASCAR on NBC guest analyst for the Xfinity Series race at Richmond. In 2016, Edwards was a Fox NASCAR guest analyst for the Xfinity Series race at Texas.
Edwards has a cameo appearance as a West Virginia state trooper in the 2017 film Logan Lucky. He also had a cameo appearance in Chicago Fire as a pizza delivery driver in the fourth season episode "2112". He made an appearance in the music videos for Justin Moore's 2011 song "Bait a Hook" and Sara Evans's 2013 track "Slow Me Down".
He was rumored to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri as a Republican against Claire McCaskill in 2018 but decided not to run. Josh Hawley defeated McCaskill in that Senate race. He was also reportedly floated as a potential nominee for the open Missouri U.S. Senate seat in 2022.
He is a first cousin once removed to fellow driver Ken Schrader, who told Edwards early in his racing career to get dirt track experience before going to Cup; he would later take the advice. In light of this relationship, Edwards is often referred to as "Cousin Carl." During a visit to the USS Constitution Museum in 2016, Edwards revealed that his great-great-great-grandfather is Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States.
His daughter Anne was born on February 24, 2010, followed by son Michael on May 4, 2011. In 2026, Michael became a development driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing and competed in the Toyota GR Cup.
He is also dedicated to fitness by biking and long-distance running off the track, but also his sponsors, which include Subway and Vitamin Water. He also appeared on "Eat Smart, Move More" Campaign ads in 2007. NASCAR's Carl Edwards Fit And Fast
| † – Qualified for Dave Blaney |
a Edwards lost the title to Tony Stewart on a tiebreaker, after both tied on 2403 points. He won one race compared to Stewart's five.
| 2005 | Roush Racing | Ford | 27 | 12 |
| 2006 | 5 | 43 | ||
| 2007 | Roush Fenway Racing | 14 | 23 | |
| 2008 | 11 | 19 | ||
| 2009 | 16 | 18 | ||
| 2010 | 27 | 9 | ||
| 2011 | 22 | 2 | ||
| 2012 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2013 | 36 | 33 | ||
| 2014 | 30 | 17 | ||
| 2015 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 6 | 23 |
| 2016 | 10 | 5 |
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
| 2009 ! nowrap | Doran Racing ! Dallara ! Ford ! DP | DAY | VIR | NJ | LAG | WAT | MOH | DAY2 | BAR | WAT2 | CGV 29/16 | MIL | HOM ! 0 ! |
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