Why Edwards Staying With Roush Is Awesome

Carl Edwards announced today he’s re-signed with Roush-Fenway.

Personally, I’m thrilled. I’m a JGR girl, and I can’t stand Carl. Period. To have him on my team would suck. A lot.

From a non-personal standpoint, I’m still thrilled. Carl is one of the sport’s most marketable stars and most popular personalities. If he switched teams, it would probably hurt that – think LeBron James going to Miami, albeit on a considerably lesser scale. NASCAR needs its marketable stars, to help grow the sport.

It also gives a lot more credibility to Ford. The manufacturer battles between Chevy, Ford, Toyota, & Dodge are another thing that help NASCAR (for example, I have a friend who’ll watch NASCAR races on occasion for the sole reason of seeing how well the Fords do). One of NASCAR’s top drivers choosing Ford over Toyota makes those battles better.

It helps Joe Gibbs Racing, too. If you buy into the rumors, Carl would’ve driven the #20, demoting Joey Logano to the fourth car, having Joey go through all the bumps and growing pains on the new team. That would’ve hampered Joey’s development a lot. And IMO, JGR needs to fix the problems with their engines before they start expanding. Having to get a whole new team up and running smoothly would put the engine issues on the back burner. They will never win a championship until those issues are resolved.

And it’s the best for Carl. Trying to compete for a championship, knowing this will be his last season with the team, would be a distraction – not only to Carl, but to his team. There’s always the conspiracy theories, that Carl wouldn’t get the best cars if Roush knew he was gone after the season. Ford’s engines, and their cars in general, are unbeatable in NASCAR right now; why would you abandon that for a manufacturer that’s never won a title? Changing teams would take a while to adjust to, and would likely hamper Carl’s championship hunt for at least a season. Aflac, Subway, and Carl’s other sponsers might not have followed him to JGR.

So that’s why Carl choosing Roush was the best thing for everyone involved.