When two legends meet, legendary stories are bound to spring forth. The biggest NASCAR comeback story of 2025 is probably the reappearance of Carl Edwards. The 28-time Cup Series race winner bizarrely vanished after the 2016 season. After nine years of vacation, Edwards was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025 and is back in the sport in a new capacity. Edwards will join Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Amazon Prime’s 5-race schedule as a racing analyst this year.

But before Edwards launches into his new career, flashbacks of his old career still haunt him. Some of Cousin Carl’s wild stories involve heated encounters with Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself. But as the two look back on those incidents, Dale Jr. recalled one – and it involved Edwards’ father in unimaginable circumstances that led to an emotional awakening for Junior.

A day of fun and warmth for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Every NASCAR racer has been an angry young man or woman in their youth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards both were, and their attitudes clashed a few times. In a 2006 Michigan race, Edwards landed a $20,000 fine for intentionally retaliating. After getting spun out by Dale Jr., Edwards bashed into Junior’s car while the latter’s hand was hanging out. They crossed paths on the same track again in 2015 at a playoff race in Charlotte. Dale Jr threw a big block at Edwards, but the latter did not budge – subsequently, the cars made contact, and Earnhardt hit the wall and got a flat tire. He publicly said he was not going to retaliate, but he wanted to take it up with Edwards personally.

Dale Earnhardt Jr recalled the cold atmosphere he had with Carl Edwards in a recent Dale Jr Download episode. “The last week at Homestead and I see you at the driver’s meeting… I thought I’m gonna have a chat and try and see if we can have a truce.” However, Dale Jr. was totally taken aback. Instead of trying to solve his nasty encounter with Edwards in Charlotte, he was reminded of an incident from his teenage years. “Right before we could even start our conversation, you said, ‘Hey, I want you to meet my dad’… I’m seeing him for the first time and he goes, ‘We’ve met before.'” This led to Dale Jr. recalling a wild tale.

35 years earlier, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was carving his race craft on dirt tracks. At that time, he could not indulge in certain pleasures that his older competitors could. “The week I spent with Ken Schrader when I was 15-16 years old, I went dirt racing with him. I had a blast, drank a lot of beer, and looked at a lot of Playboy magazines. We were at this one strip club and they wouldn’t let me in.” However, one kindhearted soul opted not to leave Dale Jr. alone.

Junior continued: “So I sat at the back of the pick-up truck while Schrader and everybody went inside… One of the guys said, ‘Hey, I’ll sit out here with you. Don’t want you to be by yourself. Don’t know the neighborhood really well’… I drank beer with this guy. I’m a kid back then and this guy was probably our age today. And that was your dad.” As Junior heard this story back in 2015, all the vitriol towards Edwards melted away. The Charlotte wreck? It didn’t matter anymore to Jr.

When Carl Edwards‘ father made him remember that fateful night, he forgot all his animosity. “You know what was neat? All that bulls— and frustration about the racing and bumping… just washed away. I guess it was kind of like this unique situation where it was all put into perspective… I would never forget that circumstantial way that we would kind of come together,” Dale Jr. added.

Carl Edwards also felt similarly as Dale Jr. did. Who knew that two rivals could connect in such a heartfelt manner?

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Edwards sympathized with his old competitor

When Carl Edwards left the sport, it was a sort of spiritual awakening for the racer. During the 2016 championship race, a lot of things went wrong. His motor home broke down, and he almost wrecked with Danica Patrick in practice. Then, with four laps to go at Homestead, a ‘phantom caution’ wrecked out his car. For Edwards, these incidents were signs that it was time to leave the sport. He truly believed that the universe conspired to pull him away: “It changed everything for me. I realized that all that time in the car. All that time in the shop. All the people that love me, cared about me and helped me; my friends, my family, the amazing opportunities, all these miracles.”

That is why Carl Edwards absolutely connected with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s story. For Edwards, his father’s meeting with Dale Jr. also felt circumstantial in a way. He admitted it was “so cool for my dad to connect with you that way…I had forgotten that all those things were connected…It warms my heart to think that that’s special to you. Especially now at our age, you see this arc of life and all these things… I remember Dad talking about little Dale… To come full circle, get to know you as a racer, a man, and a father. And now for us to be able to talk about this – it’s just crazy.” Truly, such reunions of legends like Dalle Jr. and Carl Edwards give birth to the sweetest of stories.

As Carl Edwards heads back into NASCAR, we cannot wait to hear him share his thoughts when Amazon Prime takes over broadcasting duties this May. Their first race is scheduled to start at the Coca-Cola 600 and includes Nashville, Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono! Are you excited about Carl Edwards’ stint as a broadcaster? Let us know in the comments!