Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - Look out Kyle Busch. Here comes Carl Edwards, who turned his championship quest up a notch with a victory in Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Edwards held off Busch, the current points leader, in a two-lap shootout to the finish to claim his fifth Sprint Cup victory of the season. He performed his signature back-flip off his car not once, but twice, in Michigan this past weekend as he also won Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

Edwards became just the second driver to score a weekend sweep at Michigan. Mark Martin won the Cup and Nationwide race there in August 1993. Edwards also joined Busch as the only drivers to record weekend sweeps at a track this season. Busch won both NASCAR races at Chicagoland last month.

While Busch has clinched the top seed in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup," which begins September 14th at New Hampshire, Edwards is expected to secure the second position in the "Chase" standings this Saturday at Bristol, where he is the defending winner of the night race. Busch leads the standings with 80 bonus points for his eight wins. Despite five victories, Edwards has 40 bonus points since he was deducted 10 points for a rules infraction after winning at Las Vegas earlier this year.

Edwards has hit a peak, winning two of the last three Sprint Cup races, and it couldn't have come at better time as three races remain before the "Chase" starts. Two weeks ago, he capitalized on a late-race pit strategy to win at Pocono. Edwards had just enough fuel remaining to beat Tony Stewart to the finish line.

He has also gained momentum in the Nationwide Series after his victory in the Carfax 250 at Michigan. The defending series champion moved to within 113 points of leader Clint Bowyer, and has plenty of time to catch Bowyer for the Nationwide points lead as 10 races remain in the season.

No driver has ever won both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide titles in the same year, and Edwards would love to become the first to accomplish the feat.

Last year, Edwards scored four victories and 21 top-10 finishes en route to his first Nationwide championship, which he captured the title by an impressive 618-point margin of victory. If he wins his second-straight series title, he would join Sam Ard (1983-84), Larry Pearson (1986-87), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (1998-99) and Martin Truex, Jr. (2004-05) as the only drivers to do so.

Edwards made his Cup debut on August 22nd, 2004 at Michigan. In his first full-year of competition in 2005, he qualified for the "Chase" and ended the season third in the standings, just 35 points behind champion Stewart.

He also made the "Chase" in 2007, but finished the year ninth in points.

Clearly, Busch and Edwards will head into this year's "Chase" as the two front-runners for the title.

However, don't count out two-time defending Cup champion and current third- place occupant Jimmie Johnson, who has two wins so far this year. Johnson, who is attempting to match Cale Yarborough's record three titles in a row from 1976-78, could end up the third seed.

Judging from his winning performance at Michigan, it's likely we'll see more backward somersaults from Edwards before the 2008 season concludes. How many more back-flips this year will tell the tale whether Edwards has won one or both championships.