Michigan Sweep for Edwards

[Schwartz Fan]

Michigan Sweep for Edwards

Managing Editor



BROOKLYN, Mich. - Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch in two-lap shootout to the checkered flag and won Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway to go along with his win in Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

Edwards led the final 18 laps of Sunday's race to score his fifth Sprint Cup win of the season.

It was Edwards' 12th win of his career and second at Michigan. In nine Cup races at Michigan, Edwards has finished outside the top-10 only once.

Edwards, who turned 29 on Friday, became only the second driver to win both races. Former Roush driver Mark Martin did it in 1993.

The win gave Edwards forty bonus points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup seedings and a solid hold on the second spot when the championship season begins in September.

"The key was my crew today," Edwards said. "My guys did an unbelievable job getting me off pit road.

"This is unbelievable. We're winning races. We're gearing up for the Chase. I'm feeling stronger than ever. We're here to win championships. That's what we're shooting for."

Busch tried to rundown Edwards in the final dash to the checkered flag, set-up when Denny Hamlin blew his engine, but did not have enough to get passed the Office Depot Ford.

"It was a decent run for us," Busch said. "We just didn't have enough for the 99 there at the end. We weren't able to get through the corners as fast as Carl was."

"Carl's right there. He has been all year. Yeah, it's a 20-point swing. We've got to live with it. Hopefully, we can make it up someplace else."

David Ragan scored an impressive third place finish with Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top five as Roush Fenway Racing claimed four of the first five spots.

Mark Martin, polesitter Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler and Jamie McMurray completed the first ten finishers.

It was a tough day for a trio of drivers who saw their Chase hopes take a hit including Jeff Gordon, who cut a tire after making contact with Tony Stewart and then hit the wall.

"It just looked like Tony kind of came down and there was just no room to move there because we were all so tight coming off there," said Gordon who fell from sixth to ninth in the standings with a 42nd place finish.

Kasey Kahne suffered a blown engine and finished 40th, falling to 11th in the standings.

And Hamlin had an engine expire just laps from the finish of Sunday's race. He finished 39th and dropped to the 12th and final Chase transfer spot.

The Sprint Cup Series now heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for next Saturday night's Sharpie 500.

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Carl was my pick to win in this race. I'm even more pleased that it wasn't Kyle.