Fantasy: Expect those who shined in June up front

Pocono Raceway hosts its second race of the season Sunday as the boys of NASCAR will head to the three-turn triangle in the mountains of Pennsylvania. If this race seems like déjà vu don't be alarmed, the series raced here just eight weeks ago, so the memory of that event is fresh on our minds. Pocono could prove to be the perfect follow-up track to Indianapolis since the two facilities have a lot in common. Pocono Raceway's 2.5-mile configuration and long straights will look very similar to the racing style we saw at Indianapolis last weekend.

In the first race at Pocono, Tony Stewart prevailed with great racing and good pit strategy late in the event. The owner/driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet battled most of the race with Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson for the right to pull into Victory Lane. We could easily see a repeat of this scenario Sunday. These three drivers appear to be the crème of the Sprint Cup crop at the moment, so the spoils will likely be theirs in this 500-mile event. The following is our weekly power ranking for the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

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1. Tony Stewart
Eight weeks ago, Stewart visited Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway for the second time in his career. The championship standings leader has been running up front in virtually every race this season. The No. 14 Chevrolet team will use their success at this three-turn oval from a few weeks ago to their advantage on Sunday. Stewart has cracked the top 10 in four of his last five Pocono races.

2. Carl Edwards
Edwards could in fact be the man to beat in the Pennsylvania 500. When the series last visited Pocono, it was Edwards, not Stewart who dominated most of the race and led 103 of the 200 laps. Edwards finished runner-up that day in June. Things could turn out differently this weekend for the No. 99 team.

3. Jimmie Johnson
While Johnson is riding the momentum of his win at the Brickyard into this weekend, the No. 48 team will have to prove themselves at Pocono. Johnson hasn't won at the 2.5-mile track since 2004, although he has led laps in each of the last three races here. When the Cup Series last raced at Pocono he earned a hard-fought seventh-place finish. We think the defending Cup champion will have a better day this time around.

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He might have come up just short in June, but Mike Bell thinks Carl Edwards is the one to beat at Pocono on Sunday.

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4. Jeff Gordon
Gordon has fallen a bit in the point standings recently. He's been steadily losing ground to leader Tony Stewart, and now he's fallen behind teammate Jimmie Johnson. Not to worry, this is a typical rough patch for Gordon. He's logging top-10s instead of top-fives. Still, this could be a strong weekend for the No. 24 team. Gordon owns four top-10s in his last five Pocono events and he finished a solid fourth here in June.

5. Denny Hamlin
Hamlin's flat track resume speaks for itself. He always runs up front when the series visits Pocono. While he's had some tough luck this season, and his fantasy racing value comes with a certain risk, the upside is enough to put him high in weekly consideration. Hamlin is a two-time winner at the Pennsylvania tri-oval and he's led 300 laps for his career at the facility.

6. Ryan Newman
When the Cup Series last visited Pocono, Newman and the No. 39 team were in the middle of a significant hot streak. Pocono was the last of a six-race string of top-10s for the Stewart-Haas driver. Newman is trying to get back on a roll like that this weekend and Pocono is a great place for him to visit. Newman owns three top-10s in his last five visits to the triangular track.

7. Kasey Kahne
Entering this event Kahne is riding a two-race top-10 streak and he hopes to extend to three at the end of 500 miles Sunday. The No. 9 team has been quite consistent this summer and Kahne has posted results to match. Pocono has held a measure of success for the Richard Petty Motorsports driver through the years. Kahne owns one victory and two top-10 finishes in his last three visits to the track.

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8. Juan Montoya
Despite his critical error on pit road last week at Indianapolis, this has still been a wildly successful season for Montoya. If he can put the heartache of losing at the Brickyard behind him, then another top-10 finish is surely in store this week at Pocono. When the series visited here in June, the No. 42 Chevrolet cruised to an eighth-place finish.

9. David Reutimann
Another team that is rolling along well right now is the No. 00 team of Michael Waltrip Racing. Reutimann is coming off an impressive eighth-place finish at Indianapolis last weekend. He will carry that momentum to Pocono without a doubt. Reutimann nearly figured in the win the last time the series visited Pocono. He and the No. 00 Toyota team registered their best-ever performance at the three-turn track with a brilliant third-place finish.

10. Marcos Ambrose
The deep sleeper of the field this week is Ambrose and his small No. 47 race team. They have been most impressive throughout this summer in Cup racing. Ambrose has posted three top-10 finishes in his last seven races. The last time the series visited Pocono, Ambrose coolly posted a sixth-place finish in his first career start at the track. The Aussie's road racing skills are a bonus any time the series visits a track like Pocono.