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Tony Stewart had just enough fuel in June to win for the first time as an owner/driver.

By the Numbers: Pocono

Stewart looks to make more history in second visit

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM
July 30, 2009
10:52 AM EDT

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Sunday's running of the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway (1 p.m. ET, ESPN) marks the halfway point in the Race to the Chase and the second time the Cup Series visits Long Pond, Pa., for 500 miles of Cup Series action.

Tony Stewart made personal history in the June race, winning for the first time as an owner/driver. The win was even more impressive due to the fact he started the race in a backup car after crashing in practice, working his way up to the lead. Then fuel strategy took over and Stewart saved enough gas to win by more than two seconds.

Pocono was also interesting as it was the first Cup Series race to feature double-file restarts with the lead-lap cars. And while the new restarts were pretty uneventful in Pocono, they have altered numerous races since and could be a major factor Sunday.

A LOOK BACK -- THE TOP 10 IN FIRST POCONO RACE

1. Tony StewartSmoke led 39 laps en route to his second victory at Pocono. The win gave him seven top-fives and 15 top-10s in 21 races. In the last eight races at Pocono, Stewart has finished worse than seventh just once, a 35th-place effort in the 2008 June race.

2. Carl EdwardsEdwards was the man to beat in June leading 103 laps but came up short in the fuel game with Stewart. Despite finishing second, Pocono is a great track for Edwards with two wins, four top-fives and five top-10s in nine starts. Edwards doesn't qualify well at Pocono with an average start of 24.3 but he works his way to the front leading at least a lap in six of the nine events.

3. David ReutimannReutimann's third at Pocono in June was his career-best finish at the track. In four races prior to this year's event, Reutimann's average finish was 32.0 with one finish in the top 20.

4. Jeff GordonGordon continued his impressive runs at Pocono with a fourth-place finish. In 33 starts he has four wins, although just one of those has come in the 21st century. Gordon also has 16 top-fives and 23 top-10s. In seven of the last 11 races, Gordon has posted a top-five finish.

5. Ryan NewmanNewman has had an up-and-down career at Pocono. He starts up front with an average starting position of 9.8 but he doesn't always stay there. In 15 starts he has two DNFs and five finishes of 18th or worse. When Newman is on at Pocono though, he is on with a win, six top-fives and seven top-10s. He's also led at least a lap in 66 percent of his starts at the track.

6. Marcos AmbroseThis was Ambrose's first start at the tricky triangle and his road-course knowledge paid off with an impressive sixth-place run. His finish at Pocono started a nice run for the No. 47 team as he had two more top-10s in the next four races.

7. Jimmie Johnson Johnson ran out of fuel on the final lap in June but still salvaged a seventh-place finish to add to his domination of Pocono. In 15 starts he has two wins, five top-fives and 10 top-10s. He has only finished outside the top 15 once and his average finish of 9.6 is tops among active drivers with multiple starts at the track.

8. Juan MontoyaDespite Pocono's comparisons to a road course, Montoya hasn't made the connection. His eighth-place finish in June is his only top-10 in five starts at the track. In fact, this was just the second time Montoya had finished on the lead lap at Pocono.

9. Jeff BurtonBurton's ninth-place finish was his third one in the last seven races. He's had a pretty good run lately at Pocono with an average finish of 11.0 in his last seven starts. In 31 career starts Burton has seven top-fives and 15 top-10s but has yet to visit Victory Lane.

10. Sam Hornish Jr.Hornish scored his third career top-10 with the 10th-place finish at Pocono. He's gotten better each start with a 42nd in his first race followed by a 26th and then the 10th. Unfortunately for Hornish the same can't be said about this season. In the six races since Pocono, he has finished higher than 29th once.

CHASING THE CHASE

10. Juan MontoyaEven though Montoya lost the win at Indy because of a speeding penalty, things are going very well for the No. 42 team. His 11th-place finish gives him seven consecutive top-15s and in the last six races he has 844 points, fifth-most among all drivers.

11. Greg BiffleBiffle's fourth at Indy ended a streak of four consecutive finishes of 18th or worse. In that stretch, Biffle has lost four positions in the standings falling from seventh to 11th. Pocono isn't Biffle's strongest track, with just two top-10s in 13 starts.

12. Matt KensethThe 2003 Cup champion is flirting with disaster as the Chase approaches. He finished 10th at Indy but has just one other top-10 finish in the last seven races. To be fair, Kenseth has yet to fall out of the top 12 this season, so while he's dangerously close, his top-20 finishes seem to be working.

13. David ReutimannReutimann has been struggling as of late, scoring just 660 points in the last six races, 17th-most amongst the drivers. Don't let the points fool you though, as he has three top-12 finishes in the last four races so things could start to turn around as he looks to make his first Chase.

14. Kyle BuschWhen it rains, it pours for Busch. Engine problems at Chicago followed by a wreck at Indy have given Busch two consecutive finishes of 33rd or worse and dropped him out of the top 12. In the last eight races, Busch has just one top-10 finish and Pocono isn't a strong track for him, with an average finish of 22.0.

15. Brian VickersVickers is on the move as the Chase nears as he has earned 773 points in the last six races, 10th-most on the circuit. He has three consecutive top-10s and has started from the pole in three of the last six events. Pocono isn't Vickers' best track, but he has seen some success there with two seconds and two fourths in 11 starts.

NECESSITOUS NUMBERS

0No owner/driver has swept the two races at Pocono in a single season. Tony Stewart looks to become the first.

2Number of drivers entered in this week's race with an average finish inside the top 10 at Pocono: Marcos Ambrose (6.0) and Jimmie Johnson (9.6).

5Pocono is one of five tracks Mark Martin doesn't have a win at on the Cup Series schedule. He has finished second six times in 45 starts at the 2.5-mile track. The other four tracks Martin has yet to win are: Homestead, Indianapolis, New Hampshire and Daytona.

16Number of races it took Kevin Harvick to finish in the top 10. Harvick finished fourth in Atlanta in March and finally found the top 10 again with a sixth at Indianapolis.

73Percent of Cup races at Pocono won from a top-10 starting position -- fourteen have been won from the pole. Recently, six of the last eight races at the track have been won from the front row.

Also

POPULAR ALERTS

Create Your Own

Pocono Raceway

Drivers with multiple wins at the track

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-fives	Top-10s

Bill Elliott	48	5	14	22
Tim Richmond	14	4	7	10
Rusty Wallace	44	4	10	17
Darrell Waltrip	44	4	12	20
Jeff Gordon	33	4	16	23
Geoffrey Bodine	39	3	11	16
Bobby Labonte	33	3	5	9
Bobby Allison	21	3	7	11
Dale Jarrett	41	3	13	18
Kurt Busch	17	2	7	8
Richard Petty	30	2	8	12
Jimmie Johnson	15	2	5	10
Cale Yarborough	18	2	8	9
Dale Earnhardt	41	2	10	22
Jeremy Mayfield	26	2	4	9
Carl Edwards	9	2	4	5
Tony Stewart	21	2	7	15
Denny Hamlin	7	2	4	5
Terry Labonte	54	2	7	21
Harry Gant	28	2	14	16

• Bold: Active drivers

Sprint Cup Series

Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Tony Stewart	3054	Leader
2.	+1	Jimmie Johnson	2862	-192
3.	-1	Jeff Gordon	2847	-207
4.	--	Kurt Busch	2608	-446
5.	+1	Carl Edwards	2556	-498
6.	-1	Denny Hamlin	2518	-536
7.	--	Ryan Newman	2506	-548
8.	--	Kasey Kahne	2482	-572
9.	+2	Mark Martin	2471	-583
10.	-1	Juan Montoya	2461	-593
11.	+2	Greg Biffle	2445	-609
12.	--	Matt Kenseth	2429	-625