LONG POND, Pa. -- For all the attention paid to finding the perfect setup or that last bit of horsepower, the 15 or so seconds when a Sprint Cup car is sitting nearly motionless may have more bearing on who wins and loses on a weekly basis.

As the Wood Brothers learned some four decades ago and Juan Montoya proved at Indianapolis one week ago, the hard-earned advantage gained on the track can be eliminated by a mistake entering, exiting or sitting on pit road. And as the competition on the track has gotten more balanced and aerodynamic effects have made it more difficult to run side-by-side, making up positions during pit stops becomes paramount.

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Right now, pit stops are more important than they've been in my five years that I've been doing this.

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CARL EDWARDS

It's imperative, particularly at a track like Pocono Raceway, to use green-flag stops and fuel mileage calculations to your advantage. Tony Stewart's victory in June was a direct result of that. Despite starting last and going to a backup car -- as he did after wrecking in Saturday's first practice session -- Stewart was able to use pit strategy to work his way to the front and eventually win.

"Right now, pit stops are more important than they've been in my five years that I've been doing this," Carl Edwards said. "It's so competitive on the race track that a couple of spots gained or lost in the pits can really define your race, especially if you multiply that over the six pit stops you have in a race, or eight of them."

Jeff Gordon echoed those sentiments.

"This is a track where you can gain quite a bit of time or lose a lot of time on pit road," Gordon said. "Tony Stewart proved that last time we were here how good their team and car was. They came from all the way in the back and won the race. You don't see that happening very often but it shows you how important it is to get the car right."

But all the speed won't do you any good if you use up fuel at a faster rate than the competition, especially if the caution flags don't match your strategy. That's an issue Greg Biffle knows all too well from his last trip to Pocono. (Continued)