NASCAR announced last month that 44-year-old Carl Edwards has been nominated to be inducted into the Hall of Fame Class of 2025. The racing icon is one of those rare breeds of icons who won every accolade in the game save a Cup Series championship. While he has been nominated multiple times in the past and has not made the final cut, Denny Hamlin staunchly believes that he should this time.
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Talking to the media in Kansas last weekend, he spoke about the talent and skills of Edwards that made him a Hall of Famer. He said, “I think what makes him a Hall of Famer is probably his results. I mean, his statistics. I mean, the amount of race wins that he’s got in multiple series. He was a champion in the Xfinity Series and he was always fast.”
Hamling continued to talk about the incredible adaptability that Edwards portrayed in every type of car that he raced in. “I think that his talent level far exceeds what his win total was. So, in my mind, I regard him really high,” he concluded.
The icon’s nomination is alongside Jeff Burton and Gregg Biffle in the Modern Era Ballot. The voting panel will meet on May 21, 2024, to decide the Hall of Fame class.
The statistics of Carl Edwards that make him Hall of Fame-worthy
Edwards has been nominated to be inducted into the hall thrice before (Classes of 2021, 2023, and 2024). While a case can be made for why he didn’t make it through on these occasions, an equally strong case can be made for why he ought to have. The backing for that lies in the numbers that he posted from behind the wheel.
Over the 444 starts that he made in the top tier for Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, he secured 28 wins. This includes victories in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500. He finished second in the Cup Series season standings twice, in 2008 and 2011. He was the 2007 Xfinity Series champion and finished in the top two for five straight years in the second tier.
The closest that he came to lifting the Cup Series title was in 2011. As the driver of the #99 Roush Fenway Racing car, he posted 2403 points on the board over 36 races. He did this with the help of 26 top-10s, 19 top-5s, and 1 win. Unfortunately, Tony Stewart had collected the same number of points. To break the tie, NASCAR awarded the title to Stewart based on the greater number of wins he had (5).
