Carl Michael Edwards, II (born August 15, 1979) is a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series driver for Roush Fenway Racing famous for his victory trademark backflip. In the Nextel Cup Series, Edwards drives the #99 Ford Fusion that is primarily sponsored by Office Depot and the lawn care product company, Scotts-Miracle Gro (and their brands, Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho and Roundup). Other one-race primary sponsors have included Pennzoil, Stonebridge Life Insurance, World Financial Group and the American Automobile Association. His #60 Busch Series car, also a Ford Fusion, is sponsored by Ameriquest Mortgage and Henkel.
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 the IMCA 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.
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. 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 #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.
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 got his fourth win at Texas and becoming the tenth different driver to win there and the fifth 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 won the 2005 Busch Series Rookie of the Year. As of June 19, Edwards best 2006 finish was at Michigan Speedway where he finished 2nd.
Trivia
Edwards is most 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, although Walker would run to gain enough momentum to do backflips, because a sprint car just isn't big enough to stand on. Edwards has competed against Walker in 2005, as Walker formally drove the #38 Akins Motorsports in the Busch Series. 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.
Carl was ranked #1 in the 2006 Sporting News preseason poll
Following the 2006 Nextel Cup race at Pocono, where Carl Edwards 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 Haskel" of NASCAR. Both drivers later appologized for their comments.
Is a first cousin once removed to fellow NASCAR driver Ken Schrader and in fact, it was Schrader who furiously told Carl early in his racing career to get dirt track experience before going to Cup, Edwards took the advice.
He is not featured in the videogame NASCAR 07, despite winning 4 races previous to its release, and finishing third in the Nextel Cup points in 2005. He is one of the few drivers who has opted not to sign his name and likeness over to Electronic Arts, the makers of the NASCAR 07 game.
Carl has instead lent 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 handheld LCD game, which is co-branded with NASCAR and is highlighted by red #99 Carl Edwards graphics.
Off the track, Carl has been busy promoting his new record label, Back40 Records, a company he started with a highschool friend back in Columbia, MO. Back40 Records is an Independent record label searching for new talent in the Mid-MO area. You can find more info at www.back40records.com
Races won
Nextel Cup
- 2005 Golden Corral 500 (Atlanta Motor Speedway), Pocono 500 (Pocono Raceway), Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (Atlanta Motor Speedway), Dickies 500 (Texas Motor Speedway)
Busch Series
- 2005 Aaron's 312 (Atlanta Motor Speedway), Funai 250 (Richmond International Raceway), Meijer 300 presented by Oreo (Kentucky Speedway), Ameriquest 300 (California Speedway)
- 2006 Carquest 300 Lowes Motor Speedway - May 27, 2006, Federated Auto Parts 300 Nashville Superspeedway - June 10, 2006, New Hampshire 200 New Hampshire International Speedway - July 15, 2006, Busch Series Silver Celebration 250 Gateway International - July 29, 2006
- 2007 Sharpie Mini 300 Bristol Motor Speedway - March 24, 2007
Craftsman Truck Series
- 2003 Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers (Kentucky Speedway), Power Stroke Diesel 200 (Indianapolis Raceway Park), Federated Auto Parts 200 (Nashville Superspeedway)
- 2004 Florida Dodge Dealers 250 (Daytona International Speedway), O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 (Kansas Speedway), O'Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline Maxlife (Bristol Motor Speedway)