Denny Hamlin would like to have another Coke and a smile to get him back in Chase contention. Credit: Autostock

By the Numbers: Pocono

Just 42 days after his first victory, Hamlin will try for rare sweep

Denny Hamlin is glad to see Pocono back on the slate, just more than a month after he got his first career victory at the same place.

BY THE NUMBERS •   2006 Nextel Cup Statistics •   Season-to-Date Loop Data •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   2006/2005 Driver Comparison

Hamlin started from the pole in June and led the first 49 laps. But on Lap 50, he blew a tire and went spinning into the grass, pitted several times and restarted in 40th position. It didn't matter. It took him just 115 laps to make it back to the front, where he wasn't passed under green again and cruised to Victory Lane.

The win bumped him to ninth in the standings at the time. But since then he has fallen back to 13th, out of the Chase with seven races to go.

Another victory would do wonders for Hamlin, considering he's just 18 points from climbing back to ninth place. To sweep the season at Pocono, however, is a rare thing. Just five drivers have won both Pocono races in the same year: Bobby Allison (1982), Bill Elliott (1985), Tim Richmond (1986), Bobby Labonte (1999) and Jimmie Johnson (2004).

To win two races at Pocono at all has been nearly impossible since the turn of the century.

What you didn't know

Driver Rating: Pennsylvania 500

NASCAR's driver rating combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15s, average lead-lap running position, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps and lead-lap finish. Statistics based on current and past year at track. Maximum rating: 150 points.

Numerology

Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 (1:30 p.m. ET, TNT) will be the 58th race at Pocono. Just 42 days since the series was last at the track for the July 23 race, it heads there again with similar characteristics.

Five drivers -- Jimmie Johnson (first), Matt Kenseth (second), Kasey Kahne (sixth), Kevin Harvick (eighth) and Jeff Gordon (ninth) -- are in the same positions in the standings as they were more than one month ago heading to Pocono.

Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle are tied with 2,342 points in the standings. Gordon, however, is listed in ninth place because of his two victories to Biffle's one.

After 19 races last season, two other drivers were also tied in the standings. Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman both had 2,347 points and were fifth and sixth, respectively.

Despite a five-point differential in the Gordon/Biffle tie and the Busch/Newman tie, Gordon and Biffle have a significantly larger deficit to make up than did Busch and Newman this time last year.