HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — The year was 2005, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series was entering its second year with a new title sponsor and a virtual nobody from Missouri had just been picked by two-time defending champions Roush Racing to drive one of their cars.
At the time, few knew his name. Now, he has become a household name that we won’t see on the track going forward.
Carl Edwards was just a kid with a dream for racing and success. He was hand-picked by Jack Roush to drive the No. 99 Roush Racing Ford when Jeff Burton left the organization mid-way through the 2004 season.
Entering the 2005 season, many just wrote him off as a rookie that would be devoured by the big time racers. However, that was not to be.
He scored his first ever Cup series win in just his fourth full-time start, going toe-to-toe at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a driver who would go on to be the greatest of his generation, Jimmie Johnson.
The track known for its fantastic last-lap passes and upset winners provided another one that day, as on the final lap and off the final turn, Edwards and Johnson drag-raced to the finish line, where the young rookie beat the three-year veteran in a photo finish.
That race was where everyone saw Edwards’ potential, as well as his now infamous victory celebration, his back flip.
Edwards would go on to win four times in 2005 and finished third in the point standings.
However, the next few years weren’t as smooth as that rookie campaign in the Cup series. A winless season in 2006 left him searching for the magic he had the season prior.
In 2007 Edwards went on to win his first (and ultimately his only) NASCAR national series championship, when he held off David Reutimann to win the-then Busch Series title. Racking up a total of four wins and 15 top five finishes, Edwards used that year as a catalyst to chase the 2008 Cup championship.
That year, Edwards caught fire. Winning nine races in total, he found himself head-to-head with Johnson again, this time for the title. Edwards’ pace was lightning-quick and seemed to match every move the-then two-time defending series champion made.
In perhaps one of his most memorable races, Edwards threw a Hail Mary at Kansas on the last lap, where he threw it into the third corner wide open, passing Johnson and slamming into the wall “like a video game.” He ultimately finished second in the race and the championship standings, but it was that type of attitude towards racing that made Edwards such a tough competitor. He was never willing to relent, even when defeat seemed imminent.
Edwards’ next chance to fight for a title came in the 2011 season, in arguably the greatest title fight in the sports history. He would lead the standings for the majority of the season and when the Chase began, many thought he could be the one to hoist the big hardware by races end at Homestead.
It just simply was not to be.
A fierce and fiery Tony Stewart powered through the Chase and equaled every move that Edwards made. By the finish of the Homestead finale, Stewart had won five times, including the Homestead finale, where Edwards finished second in the race and the championship after Stewart claimed the title on the tiebreaker of most season victories.
Now, many in Edwards’ position would have been angry and upset, but the Missouri native’s true character showed through that night. After Tony was done with his burnouts and the championship celebration began, Edwards was the first to his car door and made it a point to be the first to congratulate Stewart on a hard fought championship.
Even in his bitterest of defeats, Edwards maintained his hallmarks: ultimate dignity and class.
In 2015, Edwards left his familiar home at Roush Fenway Racing to pursue a chance at the title with Joe Gibbs Racing and in doing so, was also reunited with long time teammate Matt Kenseth.
The move was shocking to many, except for Edwards himself.
His first year at JGR, he and his team were met with both struggles and success. Edwards went on to win two of the crown jewel events in NASCAR, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500, in the same season. His chance for the title however, was literally washed away when rain halted the penultimate event at Phoenix and eliminated him from Chase contention.
The dejection and the frustration was evident on his face, and that one moment fueled his fire for 2016.
