LONG POND, Pa. -- Pocono Raceway has been nothing short of rewarding for Tony Stewart the past six years and Sunday's performance in the Sunoco Red Cross 500 left the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet with plenty to celebrate.

Stewart, along with race winner Greg Biffle and third-place finisher Carl Edwards, were the big winners in a wild strategic scramble at the end of the race. On the other hand, Sam Hornish Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, along with Juan Montoya, couldn't make pit strategy under the final caution, work to their advantage.

“

It was just a matter of figuring out what the pit strategy was going to be at the end. It always comes down to strategy of fuel or weather, it seems like here, which isn't exactly how you want to have to run a race.

”

-- TONY STEWART

With a second-place finish, Stewart moved up one spot in the standings to eighth, just three points behind Kurt Busch, who had a less than stellar day after connecting with Johnson, hitting the inside wall, and dropping two spots in the standings.

Since the spring of 2009, Stewart has been the polesitter three times (both '09 poles were set by owners' points due to rainout) in Long Pond, Pa., and has now finished inside the top 10 in 10 of his past 11 attempts, including a win last season.

Leading in points after the second race at Pocono in 2009, Stewart was asked Sunday if he felt like this year's momentum had put him in a better place to contend for the Chase than last year.

"If [momentum] keeps building then, yes, I like the situation better. But I don't know what next week's gonna bring or the week after," Stewart said. "We've had some strong runs here recently. I'm hoping that trend is going to keep going.

"We're getting our cars better and that's what I'm happy about. I'm not really that worried about points. I mean, it's not like we're comfortable because were not locked in [the Chase] yet."

Stewart was quick to praise crew chief Darian Grubb and the rest of his team, citing decisions made on pit road near the end of the race as a key factor to the driver's success Sunday. Stewart said his crew gave him the car he needed to compete with Hornish, Edwards and Kevin Harvick near the end.

"It was just a matter of figuring out what the pit strategy was going to be at the end," Stewart said. "It always comes down to strategy of fuel or weather, it seems like here, which isn't exactly how you want to have to run a race.

"I thought we were going to be in bad shape when we had to come in for the four [tires] there at the end. But our guys did a great job of getting us out first car on four tires out of the pits, and that got us the opportunity to get by some guys that took two tires or no tires there at the beginning of the run. From there, we were able to race hard with Carl [Edwards] and [Hornish] and Harvick. It was a fun day."

Pit strategy played a large role for several drivers and their crews during a race that saw two red flags -- one for an accident involving Busch and Elliott Sadler and the other for rain.

Biffle and crew chief Greg Erwin's decision to stick with a two-tire strategy throughout the race eventually led to a trip to Victory Lane for their No. 16 Ford.

After Hornish elected to stay out during the final caution, Biffle and team took two tires to gain track position and were up front for the final restart. Erwin said that both times the No. 16 took two tires, it worked out in their favor, regardless of what it looked like.

"The first time it worked, really, if you look at the net position is what we look at," Erwin said. "Obviously, [the race car] is going to slip and slide. The first couple of guys on four [tires] are going to get you more often than not, unless you're the leader and can get out in front. When you can be in front, in clean air, then two tires obviously has the largest advantage."

Erwin, Biffle and team netted several positions before the next pit cycle, taking the team from third to first.

Johnson and Gordon both said pit strategy wasn't the easiest to decipher Sunday.

"The strategy at the end of this thing is just so tough to figure out. If two [tires] is really going to work or if four tires are going to work," Johnson said. "The last race we had here was kind of a similar thing ... worked out way back to the top five, this time we just got back to 10th. I don't know what kind of happened there at the two-thirds mark [in the race]. We just lost a little speed and the other guys got faster."

Gordon, who finished sixth, was leading the race before his last pit stop on Lap 170, and without knowing what the field behind him was going to do, the driver of the No. 24 said he was a "sitting duck."

"If you know if nine guys are going to take two tires, then it is an easy call to take two. But, when you don't know and the guys around you are going to take four, then you take four," Gordon said. "We just weren't really good enough to drive up there like Tony [Stewart] was."

Montoya, who dogged Gordon's tracks late in the race before the final stop, led for the final time on Lap 152, right before Gordon took the lead for a 19-lap stretch. Montoya didn't waste much time letting crew chief Brian Pattie know that he was frustrated with their decision to go with four tires.

Hornish elected to stay out when Gordon pitted, took the lead and said that more laps under caution due to rain may have given him a better chance to stay up front.

"We didn't have a very good car [Sunday], but the one thing we did have was a good car for like, five laps," Hornish said. "I was hoping they would have to run another 10 [laps] under yellow when it was raining. We got the most we could possible get out of it."