posted July 21, 2006 at 16:12 EST in NASCAR Betting Trends

Last week, defending champion Tony Stewart was involved in an accident on lap 91 with Ryan Newman at New Hampshire International Speedway. As a result, Stewart fell four spots to 11th in the point standings with just 7 races left before the Chase to the Cup begins.

Stewart would much rather be higher up in the points, but there's no reason to panic. The remaining schedule up to the chase favors him, with two consecutive flat tracks and a road course ahead, where he should dominate in each.

Stewarthas had finishes of 25th or worse in six of the past eight races. But this weekend, Stewart should do well at Pocono in Sunday's Pennsylvania 500. He finished third there in June and has one victory, four top-fives and 10 top-10s in 15 career starts.

Jeff Gordon also is battling to remain in the top 10. Gordon officially moved up one spot to ninth following a 15th place finish last week, but has the same point total as 10th-place Greg Biffle.

Gordon has won two of the five races between Poconos, but sandwiched a 40th-place finish inside the two victories. In June, a brake rotor failure with less than 10 laps to go resulted in Gordon slamming hard into the wall.

Another driver to watch in Sunday's race is rookie Denny Hamlin. Hamlin is just outside the top 10 but comes back to Pocono, where he won from the pole just last month. Hamlin was totally dominant at Pocono in June with plenty of horses to spare under his hood. A strong outing here basically seals the deal on Hamlin's chances to take Rookie of the Year honors. 

With its two races so close to one another on the schedule, Pocono is prone to streaks, and last year Carl Edwards followed his win in the June race with a fourth-place finish in the second event, Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick each finished in the top 10 both times, and several other drivers collected a couple of top-15s.

Coming into this race there will be many drivers trying to protect their current spots in the top 10, along with several others trying to race their way in, and tempers are going to be short as patience will be crucial Sunday. If Stewart keeps his emotions in check he'll be very tough to beat. Watch for 'Smoke' to put the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet into Victory Lane.