Carl Edwards Just Gave One of the Greatest NASCAR Hall of Fame Speeches of All Time

Yahoo

08-02-2025

Carl Edwards left NASCAR at the height of his career, just months after finishing fourth in the 2016 Championship. In his surprise exit press conference, he told reporters that he didn't have an exit plan; he was just getting out.
"I don't have a life raft I'm jumping onto; I'm just jumping," Edwards said.
Eight years after leaving, Edwards was invited to and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This Friday evening, he took his 20 minutes of stage time to clarify his decisions.
"I left eight years ago, and I thought I was truly turning my back on this whole sport," Edwards said. "I thought I was making a choice between this sport and my family, and you know, every prize has its price, and for me, the prize of my family was worth that price. What you've done here, though, is you've let me win both ways because when you invited me back."
Edward left the sport and descended into his own private life, not knowing if those around him would ever truly forgive him for prioritizing his family and his personal life more than the sport. In 2023, NASCAR invited the allusive driver to the Greatest Drivers event at Darlington Raceway to celebrate the sport's 75th year. Ahead of the event, Edwards told his wife Kate he was nervous about the homecoming, but the acceptance he felt from past competitors, fans, and teammates put him at ease.
"I didn't give up something for my family," Edwards said. "I realized through all this that I've gained a family. I know what the NASCAR family is now; it's the craziest thing; thank you for giving me that."
In 2016, Carl Edwards was 10 laps away from winning the championship when he took the green flag in first place on what was set to be the final restart. Kyle Busch, one of the championship favorites, dropped three places on pit row, falling behind Edwards and fellow Championship Four member Joey Logano.
Edwards took the flag and dropped low, trying to block Logano for making a pass that could've brought the young Penske driver his first championship two years earlier.
The No. 22 Penske turned the No. 19, and Edwards hit the interior wall before drifting back up the track and being hit by an oncoming car. Five competitors were out due to that crash, including Martin Truex Jr., who had to quickly exit his race car, which was engulfed in flames.
"CARL EDWARDS INTO THE WALL!"Edwards' crash after blocking Joey Logano was a championship-defining moment at Homestead-Miami in 2016. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/33TobMsVf9
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 23, 2024
In the end, Jimmie Johnson, who started the race in last after a penalty, powered through and took home his seventh and final championship with a win at Homestead.
"Homestead was one of the best races I've run in my life, okay?" Edwards said. " I don't care that we don't have that championship. I knew about 20 laps to go in that race, what it felt like to have a championship team to run a championship race with Dave Rogers and those guys. That was special. That restart didn't work out."
In his career-ending press conference, Edwards shared the same thought: with 40 laps, 30 laps, and 20 laps to go, he knew what it was like to race for a championship-winning team. It takes extreme fortitude to walk away with just the feeling, not the hardware.
"This is something; the theme of this is gratitude," Edwards continued. This is going to sound strange, but I'm so grateful that we didn't win that championship. I'm so grateful. Because it gave me time to go home and think about a few things. I looked at, I looked at my career. It was beyond my wildest dreams. I mean, beyond my wildest dreams, I didn't know my kids, and because of brave men like Dale Earnhardt Jr and other athletes, I was keenly aware that there are real risks to hitting your head over and over."
Edwards left the 2016 season healthy but had grown wary of thinking of how close every close call brought him to lives forever changed, albeit to bodily injury, CTE, or death. What started out as Edwards trying to put the 2016 season behind him ended with him hanging up his firesuit and retiring his race-winning back flips.
Edwards praised his last boss in NASCAR, Joe Gibbs, for his leadership and grace when he told him his decision. Gibbs had just ended a meeting with Edwards' teammate Busch, during which Edwards joked that Busch was probably asking to race in the Indianapolis 500. Gibbs was prepared for Edwards to come with a similar demand.
Gibbs immediately accepted Edwards' decision and for that and his leadership before Edwards left the sport with respect for Gibbs as a man and a father.
"When I told you what I wanted to do?" Edwards spoke directly to Gibbs in the crowd. "Just like Mike Mittler had done all those years before, you jumped up from behind the desk and you said, this is important to you. I got your back, and I'm going to make this happen for you. And you didn't have to say that.
You changed my family's life. You gave me permission to go do something I needed to do. And if you have ever questioned anything about how you were as a father, I want you to know you are the model father. The way you had a relationship with your sons. I saw that. I try to emulate that. We talk about it every single day in our homes."
Joe Gibbs lost both of his sons since Carl Edwards left NASCAR, first J.D. to a brian condition in 2019 after a four-year battle and then unexpectedly Coy, the night after his grandson Ty Gibbs won the Xfinity Series championship in 2022.
You Might Also Like
You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox
Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners
The Man Who Signs Every Car