Cousin Carl Calls it a Career
 

Been a while since I logged on here... thought I'd see what you all think about Carl calling it quits. Personally I respect the courage it took to step down early at the peak of his career like he did. This is the equivalent of what Barry Sanders did back in 1998 with the Lions. In modern terms I would compare this to someone like Matt Ryan randomly deciding to hang it up right on the cusp of a title. But you know when you want to do something else that's about all there is too it. This is such a brutal schedule and he entertained us nearly every Sunday for 13 years. He owes us nothing. Thanks for the memories Carl! Best of luck in whatever you do:)

He won't be missed, you could feed starving children from the crumbs in his beard, lie how he could lie, he never did the 100 yard dash in 18 seconds...

I still think there has to more to it than Carl is telling us. This decision was sudden, no matter what he says.

So the fun should be in speculating why he suddenly quit. It is my theory, that he found out, on good inside information, that NASCAR has been fixing races and Championships. Carl has lost 2 Championships because of it. And if I found out NASCAR had screwed me out of 2 Championships in the name of "entertainment", I'd walk away too. Any other theories?

Well I am going to miss the backflips for sure.

But since the Brian France era began the races just aren't the same.
I went to a race in KCMO and another in Phoenix in the last few years and was really surprised with the low attendance, used to be you couldn't get a ticket unless you paid more than it was worth. Now the Hotels and restaurants will not be as difficult to obtain rooms n such at a reasonable price.
But I still enjoy watching certain ones on the TV.

A very interesting time to call it quits. I never really cared for Carl but I was always a fan of Tyler Walker so the backflips connected me more or less to him. I would think that coming so close to a championship that many times would be extremely frustrating when you have to run the entire next season just to get to that point again. Especially in today's asinine points system....what you do in the regular season has little bearing on where you are placed in the chase, so there's little point in racing once you get that first win and you are just waiting to start the actual racing for those last few weeks. It would not surprise me to see Jeff, Tony, Carl etc start racing other series or types of racing somewhat frequently if they were at all bored with current NASCAR bs. I know Tony is still running the All-Star Circuit of Champions, Jeff said he'd like to race some sprint cars again.

First post here, and here is my .02, I agree to some extent with everyone else here in that any one of our opinions could be true. I keep wondering if he got word of the rules changes I've read about all over the interweb. Personally I hate them, the all Star race has scheduled breaks, not points racing. It's going to be just like the trucks with the caution clock. I personally don't like it at all, I don't care at all for fords, but have always liked Carl. I think he is one of the most competitive drivers out there, personality wise. He may have got wind and said EFF it. My opinion only.

I'm not sure what the deal is but I htink in the years to come, it will come out.

One theory is that when whatever his face is who drives Xfinity for Gibbs and actually has more connections to ARris won that that minor league championship, the sponsors demanded him in a Cup car next season, not 2018, and they apparently weren't interested in having him at Furniture Row. So Gibbs pushed Edwards out. If that's true, Gibbs can honestly shove those flyers he gives fans who seek his autograph about our Lord and Savior up you know where because he isn't living by its principles.

A second theory is that Carl is, like stated here, tired of the BS, and wants to run for Senate in 2018 and needs to use a year for adjustment, study, and preparing for the next phase of his life. He consistnetly debunks this, then adds that if he can do anything to help his country or do something that would benefit our American democracy, he wants to do it.

Third, since he is so health conscious, and has actually rejected sponsorship over issues related to the healthiness of their product.... that this, combined with other factors, may have led to his immediate decision to leave when Monster Energy came on board as the sponsor, since he has actually advocated against such products. A similar theory is that Monster asked him to step aside as he conflicts with their brand.

Fourth, he apparently took a few hard hits last year (I wuoldn't know, didn't watch), and after seeing the issues with concussions, he decided to step aside for his own health and rest on his laurels. That wouldn't be unprecedented. Fred Lorenzen and Junior Johnson both gave up driving before turning 40. Fast Freddie just said he was burned out, tired of living in motels, and felt like he was either at a sponsor function or working with the team about the car all the time and spent very little time driving. He went on to work the Chicago real estate market and his son traded stocks.

I hadn't considered the Monster Energy sponsor thing as the potential catalyst. It's a fairly solid theory, although I'd like to think Carl is a little more professionally tolerant than that. But it makes me think about the press conference when he announced his departure. He got all emotional when a reporter opened a question with a comment about how Carl has been a great spokesperson or ambassador of the sport or something. I don't remember the question exactly, but it was something in that that made Carl cry. I thought that was weird (more than the obvious weirdness of dudes crying). Could Carl really feel running in a league with an energy drink title sponsor compromise his personal morality enough to shatter all other commitments and dreams?

The timing is the real weird part, which lends credibility the the title sponsor theory. It does seem like he quit as soon as they finalized the Monster Energy deal. Still seems like an over reaction to me, but feasible.

I still think he was out for cocktails with some official who, after too many beers, admitted to Carl that he made the call to bring out a bs caution because Brian wasn't happy with the anti-climatic ending that was unfolding. Or an official who admitted Tony Stewart didn't have to pass tech in 2011. Playing along after knowing that would challenge the integrity of any true competitor.

Carl never said he quit racing. He has just left NASCAR (just like Tony), which I think sez something too. He likely has some kind of a "no compete" clause that will keep him out of all motorsports until his JGR contact is up. Once he starts racing again somewhere else we can eliminate the potential health concern as his motive. I guess we'll see who's sponsoring him...