Carl Edwards began his racing career at the age of 13 driving mini-sprints. Following in the footsteps of his father, Carl “Mike” Edwards, Carl began to race at the same tracks his dad had over the past 40 years. After a year of learning the sport, Carl won over 18 feature races over the next two years.

In 1997, Carl switched to the dirt circuit and the IMCA modified division capturing rookie-of-the-year honors at Capital Speedway in Holt Summit, Mo. in 1998. Picking up the pace in 1999, Carl competed in the Modified (two-barrel) division and the Dirt Late Model class at Capital Speedway. He celebrated 13 feature wins in the Modified division on his way to the NASCAR Track Championship.

Carl got his first taste of NASCAR in the Weekly Racing Series in 2000 where in one season racing the Pro-Modified division, Carl won 13 feature races, was named Rookie of the Year, and claimed the Capital Speedway Track Championship. He also competed in three Sportsman division races at California, Missouri, and Capital Speedway -- winning all three races.

In 2001, Edwards ran five of the seven USAC Silver Crown pavement series races that year achieving his best finish of 15th place at Richmond. Continuing to compete in the USAC series in 2002, he made eight starts in addition to also running seven Craftsman Truck races for MB Motorsports, where he earned a top-10 finish at Kansas. In 2003, Edwards exploded on the national scene, snagging three Craftsman Truck Series wins for Roush Racing en route to an eighth-place finish in the series standings.