Carl Edwards listed reason after reason for stepping away from full-time NASCAR competition this season, less than two months removed from nearly winning his first Cup title. Edwards had one year remaining on his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, and he came 10 laps away from winning his first Cup title two months ago. Four days later, Edwards and Gibbs spoke on the telephone and the team owner knew the decision was made. Roughly 10 minutes after Edwards finished, Gibbs began a second news conference in which Mexican Daniel Suarez was introduced as the replacement for Edwards' No. NASCAR Chairman Brian France praised the contributions Edwards has made to NASCAR and the news conference was attended by a large contingent of NASCAR executives.

Source: ABC News January 11, 2017 15:34 UTC