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No matter.

Carl Edwards is 'The Man' in NASCAR right now.

He's the most compelling. He's the most dangerous. He's the most likely to snatch the Sprint Cup championship that logic suggests is Busch's to win.

The 29-year-old back flipper from Missouri is everywhere.

He's on TV. He's in the Chase. He's in contention.

He's in Victory Lane.

"This is unbelievable," Edwards said Sunday after his No. 99 Ford won the Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at sunny Michigan International Speedway. "We're gearing up for the Chase. I'm feeling stronger than ever."

He should.

Edwards has won two of the last three races. He finished second on two other occasions in the five races that were run before MIS.

One of his runner-up finishes came at Indianapolis, where he courageously battled eventual winner Jimmie Johnson on a day when the tires under everyone's car were ticking time bombs.

"He's as good as anybody I've ever known in this business," said Jack Roush, the team owner for whom Edwards made his Cup debut in August 2004 at MIS.

Seven races ago, after finishing 17th at New Hampshire, Edwards was fourth in points.

Since then, he has led at least a lap in all but one race, climbed to second in the points and, perhaps more importantly, given first-place Busch and the rest of the No. 18 Toyota team cause to pause.

"Carl's right there, has been all year," Busch said. "He's the guy we've got to race on these mile-and-a-half, two-mile tracks. There's some of those in the Chase."

Edwards' victory gave him 10 more bonus points to take into seeding for the Chase. Even though he lost 10 bonus points after one of his five victories because of a rules infraction, he has 40 bonus markers to Busch's 80.

The gap would have been greater if Busch, who finished second on Sunday, could have found a way to get around Edwards and post his ninth win.

"It was a 20-point swing in bonus points," Busch said. "We've got to live with it. We've got to take it."

Perhaps as much as any driver in the Sprint Cup garage, Edwards gets the big picture.

He studies NASCAR history. He seeks out great drivers of the past like David Pearson for advice. He exercises religiously to get an edge over rivals. He embraces the responsibility of being a spokesman for Ford.

"My psyche and mentality is pretty much fixed on that I'm the greatest race car driver who ever lived," said Edwards, who, when the audience chuckled at his remarked, added that Pearson told him a great driver must think that way.

"Deep down," he said, "you really have to believe in yourself.

"The greatest thing about today is we didn't give up more bonus points to Kyle. That's what we have to keep doing, try to win these next three events and close the gap on him."

The Sprint Cup Series runs at Bristol, California and Richmond before the field is set for the Chase.

"We're getting to the point where we can win at any race track we go to," Edwards said. "Our pit crew has stepped up their game.

"I have a feeling this Chase is going to be fabulously competitive."

It's hard to imagine a driver having a better weekend than Edwards.

On Friday, he celebrated his 29th birthday.

On Saturday, he won the NASCAR Nationwide race at MIS.

That vaulted Edwards, the defending series champion, from third place to second and cut 61 points off first-place Clint Bowyer's lead.

There are 10 races left on the Nationwide schedule and Edwards is within 113 points of Bowyer.

No driver has ever won the Sprint Cup and Nationwide championships in the same season.

Keep an eye on Carl Edwards. He just might become the first.

George Pohly is a sports writer for the Journal Register News Service. E-mail him at george.pohly@macombdaily.com.