NASCAR finally did what fans have been asking them to do for years: get rid of the "win and in" knockout, four-round playoff format, and bring back the "Chase" format that was used from 2004 to 2013.
Though it's not the exact same format as the format that was used during NASCAR's first 10 seasons of Cup Series playoffs, it's about as close as it gets. But above all, there are no more three-race playoff rounds or single-race championship decider; it's a 10-race battle between 16 drivers for the championship, following the 26-race regular season.
And that, of course, has led to the mention of one name in particular: Carl Edwards.
Edwards was robbed of a championship in the 2016 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway as a result of a late controversial caution flag, similar to the manner in which Denny Hamlin was robbed in 2025.
Edwards was well on his way to victory until he and Joey Logano made contact on the ensuing restart, sending the No. 19 Toyota into the wall.
Nobody knew it at the time, but that moment would end Edwards' Hall of Fame Cup career. He had said that he was looking forward to coming back stronger in 2017, but he decided not to return at all. Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez replaced him just before the season began, and Edwards hasn't competed in a NASCAR race at any level since.
Door still open for Carl Edwards NASCAR return?
Over time, Edwards has not hidden the fact that NASCAR's playoff format ultimately played a major role in him deciding to hang up his helmet, even though he was arguably still at the peak of his career and had just turned 37 years old.
The fact that a 36-race championship could be won or lost because of race control's questionable decision in a key moment at the end of one single race was enough to deter him from putting everything he had into coming back and trying again, only to run the risk of watching the same result unfold right in front of his eyes.
And given what happened to Hamlin in 2025, it might well have happened to Edwards again at some point.
I guess that's what they meant by "being at your best when the lights shine brightest" to justify the winner-take-all season finale for 12 years.
But Edwards' retirement was one over which NASCAR fans were instantly in denial. Rumors started to swirl about him returning in 2018 shortly after he announced he would not compete in 2017, and you can probably go back into any NASCAR rumor page's archives and find similar suggestions at some point during every single year since.
At one point, someone even cited our 2019 April Fools' Day article as a legitimate source that Edwards was returning.
While we don't necessarily blame them, fans have been grasping at straws about this for years. Now with the Championship 4 gone and the Chase playoff format set to return, don't be surprised if we start hearing calls for Edwards, now 46, to return.
Unfortunately, it's still not going to happen (even though there was yet another fake post this past week about Edwards returning for a Truck Series race).
But aside from what should be obvious, let's take another step back here and look at Edwards' 12-year career as a full-time Cup Series driver.
On points alone, he would not have even been in the running to win the 2016 championship; he would have actually won the titles in both 2008 and 2011, ironically when the Chase format being used is ultimately why he didn't win.
He finished second in both seasons. His career-high eight wins were not enough to beat Jimmie Johnson in 2008, and he missed out on a tiebreaker with Tony Stewart in 2011, since he only won one race that year while Stewart won five times.
So you could make the case that the Chase format, not the Championship 4 format, is what robbed him of winning a title, even if the cruelest moment to deny him of that honor happened to come in 2016. In 2016, he was eighth overall in total points, and even without the wreck, he only would have been seventh.
Now an analyst for NASCAR on Prime Video, the fact is that Edwards has never given anybody any legitimate reason to think he'll be back in a Cup car, even though he hasn't shied away from answering questions about the persistent rumors that have existed ever since he announced his retirement nine-plus years ago.
Even after confirmation of the Chase's return, that simply isn't going to change.
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