Edwards Won't Be Back with Roush in '15

Carl Edwards finally made official what we've been reporting for months: he won't be driving a Roush Fenway Ford in 2015 and beyond.

Complete with statements from Ford Racing, it was announced that Edwards would not be returning to the only home he's ever known in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and Edwards confirmed it.

Edwards said on TV Sunday that he had a 2015 deal worked out, and that he couldn't talk about it yet.

“We’ve just got to get everything together, and then we’ll make the announcement when it’s the right time,” said Edwards.“Trust me, we’ll do it as soon as we can. But like I said, the focus is today and winning this race. I’ll talk about it in the next couple weeks when we kind of finalize everything. I think right now is not the right time to reflect on it, because we’ve still got a championship to win.”

Edwards told his team a month ago that he was going elsewhere for 2015, and that place is widely believed to be Joe Gibbs Racing in a fourth car. There have been rumors that he will have backing from M&M'S, but that hasn't been confirmed.

Gibbs was non-committal on rumors that Edwards was headed to Huntersville next year.

“We don’t have anything right now to announce,” Gibbs said on pit road before Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Anything that we’re going to do will be coming up in the future. I’m not sure exactly what the time line is.”

Gibbs did allow that his organization is making a more concerted effort this year to field a fourth team in 2015 than has been the case in the past.

“We’ve been (preparing for a fourth team) each and every year,” Gibbs said. “But it’s so hard to do that, we haven’t been able to get it done. But I think we’re taking a serious look at it this year.” 

Asked if those efforts involved signing a serious driver, Gibbs replied, “You’ve got to have a serious sponsor.”

But he did acknowledge Edwards' star power.  

“When Carl’s name came up during this year ... almost everybody recognizes Carl as being somebody I think is a star,” Gibbs said. “Because of that, there are a lot of teams that have tried to entice him.”