BROOKLYN, Mich. -- For Jack Roush, still on the mend from a plane crash, there is no better medicine than a good day at the race track.

In Sunday's Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway, three of the four teams in his stable finished inside the top five: Carl Edwards was third, Greg Biffle fourth and Matt Kenseth finished fifth.

“

He's the leader of our team and he has shown us that we've got one hell of a strong leader.

”

-- CARL EDWARDS

All the Roush Fenway Racing Fords were fast, and good strategies kept the cars in contention. However, if you asked Edwards, the added motivation was Roush's return to the race track. The team owner has been recovering from a July 27th plane crash that left him hospitalized for two weeks. He lost vision in his left eye and fractured his back.

After the race, Edwards said, "Jack's presence brings out the best in us. It helps having him there. It was good to have him there because he's motivating. He's the leader of our team and he has shown us that we've got one hell of a strong leader."

Kenseth agreed after his fifth-place finish moved him up one spot in the points to ninth.

"It felt good to have Jack here for sure," he said. "It certainly put a spring in everyone's step at the company and in the garage area. Everyone was happy to see him come out of that as well as he did and having him back was nice."

The momentum created in Michigan might be enough to keep all the drivers solidly in the hunt until the Chase cutoff next month at Richmond International Raceway.

And before Sunday's race, Roush said he felt like his teams were peaking at the right time. He also said he was proud of the way his team operated in his absence.

Edwards' third-place finish moved him up three spots in the standings and 266 points ahead of 13th.

"That makes me feel really good," Edwards said as he realized what the next three races are on the schedule: Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond. "If we can get through Bristol and be 200 points ahead of 13th, then we just go for broke. I think of it as 100 points per race is what you need. If we were 300 right now, we would really go for it at Bristol."

Greg Biffle led the most laps during the race before tailing off late. He led three times for a total of 66 laps and collected 10 bonus points in the process.

"That was a pretty good day for us," Biffle said. "We got a weird set of tires in the middle of the race and were super-tight. I didn't adjust on it and then I came back loose again and we did two [tires] and it wasn't very good, so at the end I said, 'I'm going to leave it alone,' and I put four on it and that was almost as loose as I had been all day.

"I could carve through traffic there, but then when I got in clean air there was too much air on the front of the car and I was too loose to catch the rest of the guys ... but I'm pretty happy with the day."

On Friday, Roush said, "If we don't have a mechanical error and miss a wreck, we have a good chance to put three cars in the Chase. With the way the cars are running right now, I think that we're in a position to be better for the end of the year than we have been all year."

The team owner could not be reached for comment immediately following the race. However, engineer Chip Bolin said Roush would be back at the shop on Monday.

Bolin said his presence made a difference.

"Yeah, I just I don't know if it was magic or the threat of Jack coming after us if we didn't run well his first time back," he said with laughter.