Hamlin's Pocono mastery intact heading into Sunday (cont'd)

When he had no expectations last season, Hamlin led 151 of 200 laps in June. In the second event he led 83 laps at the 2.5-mile triangle.

"We think we're somewhere in between where we were last year," Hamlin said. "At the first race, we didn't know we were going to be that good until the race got started, where in the second race, we thought we were going to be pretty good.

"So we're somewhere in between right now -- but I definitely think we're a top-three car, for sure -- so we'll see how it stacks out."

Ford said the team's two 2006 wins came using different setups.

With practices of sixth, fifth and first, and then a qualifying position of second, Hamlin said this year's car was a comfortable piece.

"We're a little bit different with the setup, again, because the tire's different -- but that's normal," Hamlin said. "We're always on a different tire than what we were before, so we were expecting it.

"We got off a little bit different [on setups], but we're going to start going back toward the old direction."

Hamlin ended up running 46 laps between the two practices, which was a little higher than average. Johnson ran 50 laps, the most of any of the 43 scheduled starters.

Happy Hour was halted almost as soon as it began for oil that was dropped by Clint Bowyer's No. 07 Chevrolet, which left pit road but immediately returned to the garage area without completing a lap.

After nearly 15 minutes in the garage, Bowyer returned to the racetrack and on his first run, jumped up to 26th on the chart. After running 25 laps in Happy Hour, that's where he ended up.

The 45-minute Saturday morning practice was caution-free.

Greg Biffle, one of nine men traveling between Pocono and Lebanon, Tenn., this weekend for the Federated Auto Parts 300 Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, sat out all but one lap of the initial practice as his team made wholesale chassis changes.

It took Biffle more than 14 minutes to take the track in Happy Hour, whereupon he made one lap and returned to the garage for another extended period. Biffle, who'll start 41st Sunday, ended up making 13 laps in Happy Hour, but ended up 41st on that time sheet.