Carl Edwards told NASCAR.com that he will not be competing in any Nationwide Series races this season as he plans to focus on his Sprint Cup title hopes. Last season Edwards lost the Sprint Cup title to Tony Stewart on a tie breaker.
“The way we’re approaching this season is, I’m not committing to any races right now,” Edwards said. “And as the season goes, if I decide I’m just a nervous ball of energy on Saturdays and I can’t function without going and racing — because that might be the case — then we’ll work to try to go [Nationwide] racing.”
Edwards has run full time in the Nationwide Series for the last seven seasons in cars provided by Roush Fenway Racing. During that time he has competed in 242 races, missing just one event in 2011 when he opted to stay and practice at Sonoma rather then run the Nationwide race at Elkhart Lake. He has 37 wins during that time and has 129 top-5’s and 173 finishes inside the top-10.
In 2007 he won the Nationwide Series title and second in the standings four times and third once prior to NASCAR requiring drivers to earn points in one series last season. He did win the owners title for Roush Fenway last season.
Roush Fenway plans to run the 2011 Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse full time in the #6 car next season. Trevor Bayne is expected to run select races in the #16 but the organization is still seeking additional sponsorship that will allow him to run additional races. Bayne will run the #21 Wood Brothers Ford in the Sprint Cup Series, Stenhouse will run some races in RFR’s #6.
Edwards has 19 career wins in the Sprint Cup series.
