Kyle Larson’s Bristol win a fitting tribute to late Hendrick PR director Jon Edwards

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When Kyle Larson drove up the ramp to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports employees wearing team gear surrounded his car to prepare for the traditional celebratory photos.

Somehow, inexplicably and inconceivably, Hendrick’s director of communications Jon Edwards was not among them. He wasn’t there to hand Larson a bottle of Prime and that weekend’s sponsor hat, or direct him to the various media members awaiting interviews.

Larson dedicated the win to Edwards, whose smiling face rode on the side of the No. 5 car and a handful of others — thanks to decals Hendrick made that read “Jon Edwards, One of a Kind.”

But how could the win be in honor of Edwards’ life? Surely he was around there somewhere. Heck, he always was. It’s impossible to think otherwise, except that’s now reality.

Edwards died this week at age 53 after a sudden, undisclosed illness. It left many in the NASCAR world completely reeling, because for the last 30 years, Edwards has been as ubiquitous in the NASCAR garage as stacks of tires.

He was Jeff Gordon’s right-hand man through much of the Hall of Famer’s career, and their relationship went far beyond work colleagues; more like brothers, a tearful Gordon told reporters earlier in the day.

After retiring from driving, Gordon asked Edwards to shepherd Larson through his Hendrick career, and Edwards obliged. He always seemed to find a way to accommodate requests both large and small, and that was a big one — but one he embraced with the utmost professionalism. So Edwards returned to the road life with fervor when many of his contemporaries in the racing PR business decided they’d had enough of the traveling circus after so many years.

The Hendrick team created a decal to honor Jon Edwards, a PR director who worked with Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson, during this weekend’s races at Bristol. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

So what do you mean he’s gone? Edwards was just at Darlington Raceway last week until he felt ill. He was in the middle of planning Larson’s Memorial Day Weekend “Double” attempt, as he did last year. There was so much to do and coordinate early in this NASCAR season, which saw Larson — as usual — performing as one of the top drivers.

But even with Edwards’ shocking loss, this outpouring of grief and tributes — the decals, the touching video montages on national TV, the mentions in interviews — had to catch many NASCAR fans off guard.

Who even is this guy?

That’s the nature of what Edwards did. Even while working alongside two of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, he was much happier to be behind the scenes trying to generate publicity for them.

“Jon would probably want this to be a broader discussion about just what PR folks do, the dedication they have, the commitment and this balance they have of connecting a team or a driver with the media, with the fans, with the sponsors and also allowing them to stay focused on their job,” Gordon said. “He was the best. I got to work with the best, and so did Kyle. Now others he’s mentored will get to carry that on, and today we get to carry it on with a win.”

Earlier this year, Edwards volunteered to participate in a small, online seminar for aspiring journalists. During his session, he lamented the loss of some old-school PR methods, primarily around relationship-building with media members.

“We don’t see enough go into the media center and cultivate relationships,” Edwards said. “I love having those discussions outside the transporter. I love going into the media center and just sitting down and we can just have a discussion, and all of a sudden a story pops out of that discussion.”

That was the sort of personal connection that gave Edwards widespread admiration among the NASCAR media corps in addition to his deep-seated bonds with others in the team communications business and throughout the NASCAR industry.

So, seeing the tributes pile up this week, Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels said, was “that way for a reason.”

“Jon carried himself with a lot of joy, a lot of care for others,” Daniels said. “I can just think of so many situations in our time together where it didn’t matter who it was or what publication or what media outlet or what driver, team, anybody. Jon had the same high level of care and concern and love for others (regardless) of who it was. That’s what made him such a joy to be around.”

It’s also what made this week, and this race weekend, so tough for so many. There’s a little less joy in the NASCAR garage without Edwards, and meeting people like that can often be rare in life.

After all, as the tribute decals said, Edwards was one of a kind.

Jon Edwards and Jeff Gordon talk during a rain delay at Martinsville in 2011. “He was the best. I got to work with the best,” Gordon says. (Steve Helber / AP)

(Top photo of Kyle Larson celebrating Sunday’s win next to the decal on his car honoring Jon Edwards: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

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