Carl Edwards has announced he is stepping away from NASCAR competition ahead of the 2017 Monster Energy Cup season.
The Missouri-born driver has took part in 445 races at the top-tier of NASCAR across 13 years, with 28 wins to his name.
He has finished runner-up in the championship twice, made it to the Chase on 10 occasions and ended last year fourth in the standings.
But he has now decided to step away from NASCAR, ahead of what would’ve been his third season at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Speaking during a press conference, Edwards explained he was not retiring from racing and wouldn’t rule out making a return, but he was stepping back ahead of 2017.
"If I'm going to get back in a race car, which I'm not saying the R (retirement) word here … I'm calling Coach (Joe) Gibbs first,” he said.
“There is no better race team. There is no faster car than a Toyota Camry. There's no better engine. There's no better crew chief than Dave Rogers. There's no better crew.”
Edwards will be replaced in the No.19 Toyota Camry by NASCAR Xfinity’s reigning champion Daniel Suarez.
“It was just an amazing moment,” he admitted. “I wasn't expecting that at all.
“I was actually already working with [XFINITY crew chief] Scott [Graves] and the amazing team that I had in 2016 in Xfinity to be ready to open 2017 the same way that we closed in '16, winning races. And then this came out.
“Very, very happy for this opportunity.”
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