Carl Edwards to step away from NASCAR after 13 years in Cup Series
By Ted Fleming
Daniel Suarez gets an immediate promotion to race the No. 19 Toyota in place of Edwards for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
According to numerous reports including a Fox Sports exclusive, Carl Edwards is retiring from the newly minted Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and will not race in the 2017 season that will begin next month at Daytona International Speedway. The 37-year old veteran driver is said to be pursuing interests outside of racing.
Neither Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing nor the Toyota Racing Division have announced anything formally, however, there is a 10:00 a.m. press conference scheduled for Wednesday where it is expected that Daniel Suarez, the 2016 Xfinity Series Champion will be named as Edwards’ replacement in the No. 19 Toyota.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Edwards has 28 victories, 124 top-5 and 220 top-10 finishes in 445 starts. His career started as a 22-year old in what is now known as the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series in 2002 where he registered a combined 44 victories, and got his first Cup start for Jack Roush two years later and has been a mainstay ever since.
This past year, Edwards visited the winner’s circle three times including taking the checkered flag in back-to-back starts at Bristol and Richmond. Those wins locked him onto the Chase and made it into the Final Four after taking the AAA Texas 500 in the next to the last event of the 2016 season. He was making a run for the title, but a late race crash took him out and he would finish fourth behind Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch.
While Edwards has not won a championship, he came very close in 2011 while still with Roush and finished tied for the points lead with Tony Stewart and lost it on a tiebreaker because Smoke had more wins that year.
Next: Daniel Suarez wins first ever Xfinity Series Chase championship
Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez is one of the up and coming hot shoes in NASCAR and took home the Xfinity title at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the season finale becoming the first Latin driver to win a major title. The 24-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico also put his name in the record book as the first to be born outside the United States to take home a championship.