Does Carl Edwards hold a NASCAR championship title? Everything you need to know
Carl Michael Edwards Jr., popularly known as Carl Edwards, is a renowned former NASCAR driver who raced in the Cup Series from 2004 to 2016. A future NASCAR Hall of Famer, and one of NASCAR's Greatest 75 Drivers, Edwards is also a NASCAR champion. He won the NASCAR Busch Series title in 2007.
Edwards held off David Reutimann and Jason Leffler by massive points to claim the only championship of his career. He picked up a massive 4805 points, compared to Reutimann's 4187 and Leffler's 3996 points.
The former NASCAR driver claimed four victories that season at Bristol, Dover, and twice in Nashville. He won the championship by 618 points driving for Roush Fenway Racing's Ford #60 car.
Edwards was born in Columbia, Missouri, on August 15, 1979. He completed his graduation from Rick Bridge High School in 1997 and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia. He was a part-time teacher before he changed his profession and turned into a full-time driver.
The 45-year-old's big break in stock car racing arrived in 2002 when he signed up to race with MB Motorsport in the Craftsman Truck Series. He made his debut in the series in 2002 O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 at Memphis.
Edwards appeared in 60 races in over five races and claimed six race wins, four pole positions, and 35 Top 10s. His last victory was in the 2004 O'Reilly 200 at Bristol and raced his last in the 2007 San Bernardino County 200 in California.
In the same year of his Truck Series debut, Carl Edwards made his Xfinity Series debut as well. Xfinity Series was known as the Busch Series during Edwards' racing days. The Columbia-born driver took part in 245 races in over 10 races, where he clinched 38 race wins, 27 pole positions, and 174 top 10s.
Carl Edwards' Cup Series statistics and Championship misses
Two years after his Truck and Xfinity Series debut, Carl Edwards made his Cup Series debut in 2004. His first race in the premier stock car racing series was the 2004 GFS Marketplace 400 in Michigan. While he performed decently throughout his Cup Series career, he was unfortunate to have missed two Cup Series Championships.
In 2008, Carl Edwards had a strong Cup Series season and finished as runners-up behind Jimmie Johnson. However, the 2011 season was more heartbreaking for him. Edwards finished the season on identical points to Tony Stewart. However, the tie-breaker prevented him from enjoying what could have been his first Cup Series championship.
Edwards' Cup Series statistics boast 445 races in 13 years, where he picked up 28 race wins, 22 pole positions, and 220 Top 10s. His last race was the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead, following which he retired from NASCAR.