If Carson went to the trouble of trying to mislead Iowa voters into thinking that he was quitting then yes.
But if that was done by a clever rival to give the impression that Carson was quitting, then no.
Carson set a trap for everybody else in the race that actually wants to win. Cruz and Rubio BOTH took the bait, but Carson quite obviously intends to endorse Rubio and hand over his base. He’s getting in all the whacks against Cruz - like Sarah - in the meantime.
Funny thing is Carson’s base may not be real comfortable getting behind Rubio, but not as uncomforable as Santorum’s base in migrating to him.