NASCAR: We can finally end this Carl Edwards rumor

By Asher Fair | Apr 11, 2021

Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

We can finally end the seemingly eternal rumor about former NASCAR Cup Series driver Carl Edwards and the chances of him making a comeback.

If there is one NASCAR retirement that fans still can’t quite wrap their heads around, it is that of 28-time Cup Series race winner Carl Edwards.

After being involved in a late wreck in the 2016 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which took him out of championship contention, Edwards was still set to return to the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in 2017.

However, before the season began, the then 37-year-old unexpectedly announced his decision to retire, and he has not competed in a race since.

But ever since then, even more than four years later, there are still rumors about the now 41-year-old Columbia, Missouri native making a return.

Just a month after his retirement was announced, there were talks about Edwards returning with Team Penske the following season. More than two years later, it was reported that he would, not might, be back in a car in 2020, although we’re pretty sure that this particular report took our 2019 April Fools’ joke as gospel and ran with it.

Of course, that return didn’t happen, and most expected it wouldn’t.

Then Kyle Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing last April, and whose name turned up as a possible replacement candidate?

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Well, yes, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s name did too. But yet again, another rumor about Edwards.

So here we are in April 2021, fresh off what we expected would be another April Fools’ Day filled with reports about Cousin Carl making his long-awaited return to the Cup Series, where he would ultimately win a championship to ride off into the sunset like the fans always wanted him to.

Instead, the beginning of the month was actually filled with quite the opposite.

Sure, a return is possible for Edwards, as it always has been.

He has admitted that multiple times, most recently on NASCAR Race Hub.

But as far as full-time competition is concerned, we can officially say goodbye to that rumor (if you haven’t quite done that yet in the last 50 months or so).

One of the things he doesn’t miss about racing is the packed 36-race schedule, and it’s not something that he is considering taking on again — even if he does still have the itch to get back in the car for a race or two here and there.

"“[My wife] would let me [run a race], just because it would get me out of the house. But yeah, I have thought about it a little bit. I miss the driving part a lot. I miss the people. I don’t miss the schedule. But something like that, a one-off, would be a lot of fun. I had the chance to go do some testing in the sim for Daytona, and that was really neat.”"

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So we can officially rule out the possibility of Edwards doing what he hasn’t done since 2016 and running a full 36-race Cup Series schedule at any point in the future.

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