(born on
August 15th ,
1979 in
Columbia, Missouri ) is a
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and
Busch Series driver for
Roush Racing . 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 .
Edwards grew up watching his father, Carl, Sr., race, and was inspired to do the same. Carl, Sr. has been racing modified
Stock Car s 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.
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,
March 20 , he beat
Jimmie Johnson by 2-hundreths 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.
Later in 2005, on
June 12 , 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 30th in the
Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway .
Edwards got his foruth win at Texas and becoming the the tenth different driver to win there and the fifth win there for Roush Racing.
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 drives the #38 Akins Motorsports car in the Busch Series part-time, sharing the ride with
Nextel Cup driver
Kasey Kahne .
Edwards is currently dating
Olympic Gold Medal -winning
Swimmer Amanda Beard , who was a NASCAR fan long before she and Edwards began dating.
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.
