At a time when outrageous race-win celebrations weren’t the norm, Carl Edwards put them to another level entirely. He stepped away from the Cup Series after his 2016 championship run, but his signature backflip remains one of the sport’s most unforgettable sights. Strangely, he doesn’t consider it to be that big a deal.
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Edwards’ inspiration came from World of Outlaws driver Tyler Walker, whose own backflip left Edwards stunned. Watching Walker, he thought it was the wildest celebration he had ever seen. Edwards then tried it at Capital Speedway in Holts Summit, Missouri, while racing a dirt car.
After earning his first win in the No. 99 truck at Kentucky, he brought the celebration with him to NASCAR. Describing the feeling, Edwards said that when he stood atop his car with the crowd roaring, the backflip felt like the purest expression of his excitement. For him, performing it was even better than watching it.
Yet, in a 2007 interview with Frontstretch, he downplayed the mystique behind it. “The deal with the backflip is, anybody could do a backflip after they win a Nextel Cup Series race. I mean, you’re pumped! It’s simple, but it’s hard to do on command. People are like, ‘Let’s see you do a backflip,’ and I say, ‘I’ve gotta win something, I’ve gotta feel good.’”
He added, “But it’s definitely a fun thing to do, and as long as the fans dig it, I’ll keep doing it. Sometimes people don’t think it’s the greatest idea, like my sponsors, but it’s just fun. If I think of something else to do, I’ll probably do that, but for now I like doing the backflip.”
Even though Edwards never won a Cup championship, the increasing layers of rules, regulations, and manufactured cautions that NASCAR introduced over the years made him feel distanced from the sport he loved. Still, his celebration style is remembered as one of the most unique in the sport. For now, though, he is focused on helping Denny Hamlin get over his heartbreak.
Recently, Hamlin, still carrying the sting of another near-championship miss in Phoenix, revealed that conversations with Edwards helped him process the loss. Edwards reminded him to take pride in what he has achieved so far, and those talks helped Hamlin steady himself again, fueling his decision to return next year ready to take another swing at the title.
