CARL EDWARDS

'Carl Michael Edwards, II' (born August 15, 1979) is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and Busch Series driver for Roush Fenway Racing. In the NEXTEL Cup Series, Edwards drives the No.99 Ford Fusion that is primarily sponsored by Office Depot, NASCAR's Official Office Products Partner. Other one-race primary sponsors have included Pennzoil, Stonebridge Life Insurance, and the American Automobile Association. His #60 Busch Series car, also a Ford Fusion, is sponsored by his old Cup series sponsors Scotts-Miracle Gro (and their brands, Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho and Roundup) along with Dish Network and the World Financial Group.

Biography

Edwards was born in Columbia, Missouri. He grew up watching his father, Carl, Sr., race, and was inspired to do the same. Carl, Sr. has been racing modified stock cars and USAC midget sprint cars for over four decades, winning over 200 races. Carl, Jr.'s career began in 1993, when he started racing four-cylinder mini-sprints at age 13. His success was not far off, as in 1994, he won four feature races in the mini-sprint series at tracks in Missouri and Illinois. He added a combined total of 14 wins from the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
Edwards switched to dirt in 1997, racing in IMCA's modified division. It didn't take him long to find success there, either, as in 1998, he was crowned Rookie-of-the-Year in that same division at Holt Summit, Missouri's Capital Speedway. In 1999, he won 13 races in the track's Modified division, winning the NASCAR Track Championship.

NASCAR

Edwards' big break came in 2002, when he competed in 7 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events for MB Motorsports. His best finish in the seven races was 8th at Kansas Speedway. He also ran one Busch Series race for Bost Motorsports, finishing 38th at Gateway International Raceway. However, it was enough to impress Jack Roush, and Edwards became a full-time Truck Series competitor in 2003, driving the #99 Ford F-150 sponsored by Superchips. He won Rookie-of-the-Year honors in addition to three race wins, eventually finishing 8th in the points standings at the end of the season. In 2004, he notched three more race wins, including the season-opening Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at the Daytona International Speedway. At season's end, Edwards finished 4th in the points. In August of 2004, he made his NEXTEL Cup Series debut, replacing Jeff Burton, who left the team, in the No. 99 Ford Taurus for Roush Racing, at the Michigan International Speedway. He finished 10th. He drove the #99 Ford for the remainder of the 2004 NEXTEL Cup. He also once again ran one Busch Series race; this time for Robby Benton Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway with sponsorship from Mac Tools.

Edwards (in the red suit) waves to fans during driver's introductions at the spring 2006 Bristol race

In 2005, Edwards became a full-time driver in both the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series. He has already won races in each, and he made history in the process of winning. On March 19, 2005, Edwards won the Aaron's 312 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, recording his first Busch Series win. The next day, he beat Jimmie Johnson by 2-hundredths of a second to win the Golden Corral 500 at the same track for his first NEXTEL Cup Series win. Until this took place, no driver had ever won both the Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series races in the same weekend at Atlanta, although the feat had been pulled off numerous times before at other tracks by other drivers. Also, Edwards became the first driver in NASCAR history to pick up his first career Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series wins in the same weekend.
On June 12, 2005, Edwards picked up his second NEXTEL Cup win by taking the checkered flag at the Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The weekend was somewhat bittersweet for Edwards, as the Busch Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee had been rained out the night before, and rescheduled for the same day. Even worse, qualifying for that race had been rained out, too, and in NASCAR, when qualifying is rained out, the starting grid is set by owner points. Through this process, Edwards was awarded pole, but Hank Parker Jr. ended up driving the car to a 20th place finish.
Edwards got his third win of 2005 on October 30 in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Edwards No. 99 races to the end of pit lane

Edwards got his fourth win at Texas and became the tenth different driver to win at that track, and the fifth to win there for Roush Racing. By finishing the remainder of the 2004 season in the NEXTEL #99 car, he was not eligible to compete for the 2005 Rookie of the Year in NEXTEL Cup, but did win the 2005 Busch Series Rookie of the Year. In 2006, Carl Edwards' best finish was at Michigan Speedway where he finished 2nd.
On May 18, 2007, Edwards won the pole for the 2007 NEXTEL Open, and while he lead almost the entire 40 lap race, he faded to third in the last few laps, just missing the feature event. On June 17 2007 Carl Edwards broke his 52 race winless streak in the Nextel Cup by winning the Citizens Bank 400. Shortly thereafter, on July 23, he dislocated his thumb in an eleven car pileup at a late model race at Nebraska Raceway Park (formerly I-80 Speedway) near Lincoln, Nebraska. Carl won his second race of the 2007 season, and sixth career Cup race, at the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 25th. During the post-race interview on Victory Lane, Edwards commented on the race, saying, "This is the biggest win of my career". At the conclusion of the first 26 races, the 2007 "regular season", Edwards ranked 6th in overall standings, with 3372 points, 477 points behind overall points leader Jeff Gordon. Edwards entered the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup in 4th place, with 5020 points, based on his two wins in the 2007 season, clinching a spot in the Chase after his win at the Sharpie 500 at Bristol.

Trivia

★ On June 6, 2007, Carl won the 2007 NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream at the Eldora Speedway. The Prelude is a dirt late model race organized in part by Tony Stewart, owner of Eldora, to benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp and other worthy causes. Over 20 NEXTEL Cup drivers participated in the heat races and 30-lap feature, along with other drivers from different forms of motorsports. Edwards started second in the feature and held off Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon to win.

★ Edwards is popular among fans for celebrating his wins by doing a backflip off his car (or truck), a style of celebration he took from sprint car driver Tyler Walker. Seizing on the popularity of Edwards' trademark celebrations, Ford has recently ran several "Overactive Adrenaline Disorder" commercials featuring a "young Carl" performing backflips in his baby crib, off of a couch, and off a doctors exam table.

★ Edwards previously dated Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Amanda Beard, who was a NASCAR fan long before she and Edwards began dating. While they were dating, she got him into an Olympic Training Center for help to perfect his trademark backflip.

★ During the week of the Auto Club 500, Edwards participated in taping of the Fox television series ''24'', where he played Homeland Security Agent Jim Hill.

★ Edwards made an appearance on the February 22, 2006 episode of ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. Ferguson produced the cover of the February issue of ESPN magazine which featured a bare-chested photo of Edwards. Joking that Edwards' nipples seemed far apart, Ferguson suggested this was due to the high rates of speed at which Edwards often traveled.

★ Edwards was ranked #1 in the 2006 Sporting News pre-season poll

The Carl Edwards No. 99 Office Depot Ford in 2006

2007 car at Texas

★ Following the 2006 NEXTEL Cup race at Pocono, where he was caught in a wreck intentionally caused by fellow driver Tony Stewart, Edwards called Stewart a moron. Stewart returned this by suggesting Edwards was the "Eddie Haskell" of NASCAR. Both drivers later apologized for their comments.

★ Edwards is a first cousin once removed to fellow NASCAR driver Ken Schrader and it was, in fact, Schrader who furiously told Edwards early in his racing career to get dirt track experience before going to Cup; he took the advice.

★ He is not featured in the video games NASCAR 07, despite winning 4 races prior to its release, and finishing third in the NEXTEL Cup points in 2005. He was not offered a contract for the game by Electronic Arts, the makers of the NASCAR 07 game due to Edwards lending his name to a series of plug-and play video games made by Excalibur Electronics. Both the 8-bit and 16-bit version of Carl's racing game feature his signature backflip, shown whenever Carl's character wins a race. He has also endorsed a hand held LCD game, which is co-branded with NASCAR and is highlighted by red No. 99 Carl Edwards graphics. He is absent from the EA Sports NASCAR game , NASCAR 08, due to the same reason.

★ Off the track, Carl has been busy promoting his new record label, Back40 Records, a company he started with a high school friend back in Columbia, MO. Back40 Records is an Independent record label searching for new talent in the Mid-MO area.

Races won

External links

★ Office Depot Racing website

★ Carl Edwards' Official Website

★ Edwards' profile

★ Edwards Online Tracker

★ Coca-Cola Racing Family's Carl Edwards profile

★

★ Driver's stats at racing-reference.info

★ Back40 Records

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CARL EDWARDS

Biography

NASCAR

Trivia

Races won

NEXTEL Cup

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

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