[5] He won Rookie-of-the-Year honors in addition to three race wins, eventually finishing eighth in the points standings at the end of the season.

In 2005, Edwards signed on and became a full-time driver in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series; although he had already run races in each in prior seasons.

First, Edwards won the Aaron's 312 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, recording his first Busch Series win.

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.

The Hendrick duo of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon dominated the Chase for the Championship winning six of the 10 races and finishing No.

[citation needed] On November 3, 2007, Edwards clinched his first NASCAR Busch Series Championship by finishing 11th at the O'Reilly Challenge.

[citation needed] Following the Las Vegas win, on March 5, 2008, NASCAR penalized Edwards, owner Jack Roush, and crew chief Bob Osborne for violations found in post-race inspection.

99 car driven by Edwards was found to be in violation of sections 12-4-A, 12-4-Q, and 20–2.1J of the 2008 NASCAR rulebook, specifically, the cover was off the oil tank.

Edwards was leading the Kobalt Tools 500 looking for his third consecutive victory, but on lap 274 his car began to smoke and his crew diagnosed the problem as a broken transmission.

[6] On August 3, Edwards got his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season, surviving a rain delay and fuel shortage to win at Pocono.

However, if the Chase was not implemented in 2008, Carl Edwards would’ve won the Sprint Cup Series Championship over Jimmie Johnson by 16 points on a fuel strategy call by him and his crew chief Bob Osborne.

[citation needed] Heading into the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season, many media analysts expected Edwards to challenge Johnson for the championship.

99 car, on the final lap of the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega in April, Edwards survived one of the most violent crashes in NASCAR history.

Edwards passed Andrew Ranger for second and recovered from spinning his tires on the restart to catch up with dominant leader Marcos Ambrose.

On November 12, 2010, Edwards broke the track-record for the fastest qualifying lap at Phoenix International Raceway scoring his 6th career pole.

The next weekend, Edwards qualified second at Homestead, and go on to dominate and win the race with season champion Jimmie Johnson finishing 2nd.

The deal was reportedly worth over $40 million, with Ford talking Edwards into sticking with Roush Fenway Racing for the rest of his career.

[9] In January 2012, Edwards announced that he would not be competing in the Nationwide Series during the 2012 season, concentrating on his Sprint Cup championship effort.

[10] At Texas, Edwards ran well, until he made an unscheduled pit stop to check the lug on the car, sending him back to 30th, but was able to charge through over a course of 234 laps to finish 8th.

[12] Edwards led the most laps the following week at Phoenix and prevailed late, the second time he broke a 70-race winless streak at the short track.

Edwards won his second race of the year at Richmond in September, assuming the lead on a cycle of pit stops and holding off Kurt Busch in the last laps, earning him an additional three points for Chase seeding.

At Texas, Edwards started on pole and battled Jimmie Johnson for the lead on several restarts, before his engine blew up and he finished 37th.

On June 19, 2014, Jayski's Silly Season Site stated he heard "that the deal between Edwards and Joe Gibbs Racing is done, no word when it will be announced.

On January 9, 2017, FOX Sports reported Edwards planned to step away from NASCAR to pursue other opportunities; Daniel Suárez replaced him in the 2017 season.

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.

He made an appearance in the music videos for Justin Moore's 2011 song "Bait a Hook" and Sara Evans's 2013 track "Slow Me Down".

[31] 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.

He is a first cousin once removed to fellow driver Ken Schrader, who told Edwards early in his racing career to get dirt track experience before going to Cup; he would later take the advice.

During a visit to the USS Constitution Museum in 2016, Edwards revealed that his great-great-great-grandfather is Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States.

Seizing on the popularity of Edwards's trademark celebrations, Ford ran several "Overactive Adrenaline Disorder" commercials in 2006[39] featuring a "young Carl" performing backflips in his baby crib, off a couch, and off a doctor's exam table.