LONG POND - In racing, pit strategy usually plays an important role. One decision can win or lose a race for a driver and his team.

On Sunday, that proved true again as a late race strategy by Dale Earndhardt Jr. crew chief Steve Latarte put NASCAR's most popular driver in position for his third win of the season.Dale Jr. didn't disappoint, passing Greg Biffle for the lead with about 14 laps remaining, sweeping the summer race series at Pocono. It was the first time a driver swept the "Tricky Triangle" since Denny Hamlin did it in 2007.As noted, Latarte's strategy put Earnhardt Jr. in the fourth position on what ended up being the second to last restart of the race. The key was putting him ahead of some drivers that had close to as much speed as he did, because passing those cars would have certainly been challenging late in the race."It came down to Steve's strategy," said Earnhardt Jr. "He pulled us on to pit road about four laps short of our window to go ahead and put four tires on and fill it up. With the big wreck on the back straightaway, that eliminated a lot of cars we would have restarted behind, so he had confidence with us restarting just inside the top 10."That big wreck Earnhardt Jr. was referring to happened on lap 117 when Denny Hamlin got loose coming out of turn one, which started a chain reaction throughout the field. All in all 13 cars were involved.The wreck gave Latarte the opportunity to employ strategy."Once the race re-started, we had to come down to pit road four laps later to fill up the car to get inside the fuel window. But, all we would need to do to was to put in a gallon or two, while the rest of the guys in front of us needed four tires and a full tank," said Earnhardt Jr. "So, we were in pit road for two seconds in the box, and they were in their pit stalls for 12-14 seconds, and we were able to leapfrog those guys on the race track."AJ Allmendinger then brought out the caution on lap 138 when he got into the wall. Earnhardt Jr. was fourth on the restart and showed the power of the Hendrick motors, literally motoring his way to second place going into turn one, falling in behind BiffleThen it was just a matter of time till he made his move as he clearly had one of the best cars of the day."It was great to be able to restart fourth, the outside lane was obviously the best lane to be in," said Earrnhardt Jr. "We got by the 11 and I guess the 4 or 15 or whoever was up there, and fell in behind Biffle. We had really great engines, even better than some of the other Chevys. So, that helped me set Biffle up and get by him. He got loose in turn one and turn two and couldn't get to the throttle, so we got a great run off the corner and motored by him down the straightaway."It looked like Earnhardt Jr. would the cruise to a victory, but a caution with six laps remaining would set up another dramatic restart at Pocono. This time it was one of the best restart drivers in the game in Kevin Harvick that Earnhardt Jr. would have to fend off and Harvick certainly made things interesting.Earnhardt Jr. got past Harvick on the outside through turn one and was able to pull away through two and three. However, Harvick was strong on the front stretch and got a couple good runs on Earnhardt Jr. going into turn one, but he wasn't able to get enough momentum to make the pass."I knew Harvick was going to be tough to get around, so I wanted to clear him going into one and we didn't," said Earnhardt Jr. "So, we decided to get on the gas hard and be confident that the car would stick and we were able to do that. I think that was where the race was won. If he passes me there, he probably wins the race, for sure and vice versa"Earnhardt's teammate Jeff Gordon possessed the other strong car on the day and showed it, running at the front for the entire day, coming home with a sixth place finish.Somebody that needed a good showing was Tony Stewart, but he was not able to do so, getting caught up in the "big one" on lap 117. He finished 36th overall and is currently not in the chase as he is 19th in points without a win. Stewart most likely needs a win within the next five races or he will not make the chase.Next up for the Sprint Cup drivers is Watkins Glen in New York as the race for the chase continues to wind down.