Carl Edwards all but confirms he’s retired from NASCAR for good

Carl Edwards is probably the most retired pro athlete never to actually use the word “retired.”

It’s not as prominent this year now that he’s been out of the sport for more than one full season, but there continues to be a hopeful contingent of NASCAR fans, and probably some team owners, thinking that Carl Edwards might return. To be fair, be brought some of that speculation on himself, walking away while still at the height of his powers and never actually saying he was retiring.

Still, Edwards has never given any indication he’d like to resume his driving career since he left, and while he’s made some appearances at the track and says he hasn’t completely severed ties with the NASCAR community, he’s also squashed any rumors when asked about them.

He did that again on a recent appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, when Claire B. Lang flat out asked him if he was entertaining thoughts of coming back. His answer was that of a man who is pretty happy with what he’s doing now.

Edwards also isn’t ready to crank up the campaign machine to run for public office any time soon, another topic with which he is often linked. He did tell Lang that he could see himself doing that in the future, but has nothing in the works at the moment.

Now 38, Edwards has to see the success that Kevin Harvick is having and know that despite the youth movement in NASCAR, he could hop back in and compete for championships. But he’s always been reportedly great with the money he earned as a driver, and the time he gets to spend with his family and on other pursuits now appears to outweigh the financial or competitive benefits he’d get from a return.

As well, Joe Gibbs Racing doesn’t need him to come back. Kyle Busch is one of the top drivers in NASCAR, Denny Hamlin is a fringe title contender himself, and both Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez have tons of potential. JGR also has one of the brightest stars yet to make it to the Cup Series, Christopher Bell, under its umbrella, and an argument could definitely be made that no team is as well positioned for the present and future as it is.

Next: How BK Racing lost about $10 million a year competing in the Cup Series

So an Edwards comeback story would be nice, but we don’t expect to be writing it and you should all but abandon any thoughts of reading it. Now the only question is whether he’ll do his backflip off the stage when he wins an election sometime next decade.