Carl Edwards earned the victory he desperately need to earn a championship-contending spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale, winning at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday night in a race shortened by 41 laps due to rain after the start was delayed nearly six hours.

Carl Edwards Wins Rain-Shortened Texas Race To Advance To NASCAR Finale

With his fourth career victory at Texas, Edwards joined Jimmie Johnson as drivers vied for championship-contending spots in Homestead.

That leaves two spots available next Sunday at Phoenix.

Edwards entered the penultimate race before the Nov. 22 season finale eighth in points among the drivers still available for the championship.

“This is huge. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. That’s all we said was needed, just a shot,” Edwards said. “Now we’re going to go to Homestead, we’re going to do what we need to do. This was a great test. We came here and did what we needed to do, we performed, and I really believe we can do that at Homestead.”

Edwards’ three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are among the six other drivers still in contention, and clearly not all of them can advance.

Edwards has been waiting for this victory for a long time: five years, to be exact.

In 2011, back when he drove for Jack Roush, Edwards and Tony Stewart put on an epic battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship that literally could not have been any closer.

After 10 races in the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Edwards and Stewart wound up tied with 2,403 points each. But because Stewart had won five races that season — all in the Chase — and Edwards only one, Stewart ended up being crowned the series champion on a tiebreaker.

Edwards took the lead on lap 258 late Sunday night after defeating Martin Truex Jr. off pit road.

Joey Logano, another Chase contender, finished second while leading a race-high 178 laps. Truex finished third and Chase Elliott fourth.

FORT WORTH, TX – NOVEMBER 06: Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 Sport Clips Toyota, races under caution during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 6, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch took the lead after the final restart in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Fort Worth, Texas, to complete his second straight NASCAR weekend sweep.

Kyle Busch Wins Second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series In Texas

Busch, 30, ended Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet SS driver Jimmie Johnson’s three-race winning streak at Texas Motor Speedway, earning his 36th Sprint Cup victory just a week after winning at Martinsville. Busch, the No. 18 Toyota Camry driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, also won the Xfinity race in Texas on Friday night, his 80th win in that series following a two-week break.

“It’s pretty darn good, I’ll tell you that,” Busch stated when asked what his life is like right now. “I’ve got a great wife, a great son and I’m having a blast, living the dream.”

On lap 302 of 334, the first lap after the final restart, Busch went on the outside of Turn 4 to shoot around No. 78 Toyota Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Busch continued to lead for the rest of the race, beating Dale Earnhardt Jr. by just under four seconds, with Joey Logano coming in third.

“The restart was going to be key. If I could just get out in front of him, I knew I could protect the rest of the race,” Busch said.

This was Busch’s second Sprint Cup win at Texas Motor Speedway, the first coming in 2013 when he also swept both spring races. NASCAR’s first night race of the season actually went into the next morning, ending a few minutes after midnight. Johnson, who had won five out of the last seven Texas races, finished fourth.

When the Sprint Cup Series returns to Texas in November, Johnson will be pursuing his fifth straight victory there. Chase Elliott, the rookie teammate of Earnhardt and Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports, finished fifth.

All four Gibbs drivers finished in the top 12, with pole-sitter Carl Edwards seventh, Matt Kenseth 11th and Denny Hamlin 12th. Edwards led 124 laps and was running second on a restart with 113 laps to go after pitting during a caution.

Truex was in the lead six times for 141 laps in total. The last restart followed an incident that involved 13 cars on the backstretch.

Caption: FONTANA, CA – MARCH 20: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75 Toyota, races Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 20, 2016 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)