Carl Edwards retirement from racing seemed to come from out of proverbial left field when the now-former racer announcement, without actually using the word "retirement" in January 2017. His last NASCAR boss, Joe Gibbs, still has questions, questions he detailed recently on Dale Earnhardt Jr,.'s "Dale Jr. Download" podcast.
“I would have to say that conversation might have been [in] my top-five as far as shocks for me in life,” Gibbs said of Edwards telling him after the end of the 2016 NASCAR season that he was considering stepping away from the sport.
Edwards made an official, public announcement at the Joe Gibbs Racing shot in January 2017, citing reasons that included preserving his good health and a desire to spend more time with family, doing non-racing things that he hadn't had time to do, because of racings. Still, Gibbs claims he isn't clear on the reasons for Edwards' decision.
“Never really ever really got to the (reasons),” Gibbs said. “He said, ‘I’m not going to share with you. I’m not going to share with anybody the real bottom lines.’ I will say this right now. I feel good about it from the standpoint, we still talk every now and then. Last time I called him, he was on his boat in the Bahamas. I said, ‘Well, you’re doing pretty good.’”
Edwards drove the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2015 and 2016 after leaving Roush Fenway Racing. He won five races in his two seasons with JGR and finished both seasons in the top-five of the driver standings. He was replaced by Daniel Suarez, who was moved from NASCAR's Xfinity Series to the Cup Series. Suarez drove the car for two years before being replaced by 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. ahead of the 2019 season.
