LONG POND - Right now, it's good to be Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR's most popular driver continued his resurgence this season, taking advantage of Brad Keselowski's late race misfortune to claim his second win of the year at Sunday's Pocono 400.Not only does the win all but lock him into the Chase for the Cup, it also secured his maiden victory at the Tricky Triangle and his first multi-win season since 2004, when he won six times.While he's had streaks of running well over the last few seasons, 2014 marks the first year Jr. has been able to capitalize on those performances."I think it's the difference between running fourth at the end of the race and running second," he said of closing the deal at the finsih. "It's a very small thing, but in years past it was someone else seizing that opportunity from Brad (Keselowski, who finished second), and we were running third or fourth, watching it happen."We've improved our game a little bit and the company (Hendrick Motorsports) has gotten better. The organization is really moving along great right now."Earnhardt, Jr. led only 11 laps, but was in a position to pounce when Keselowski was forced to slow due to trash on his grille, which caused his engine temperature to rise and allowed the No. 88 to take the lead with five laps left.Jr. credited crew chief Steve Letarte, who used a savvy pit strategy, for putting him in a position to capitalize on the situation."Steve (Letarte) has a great strategy for races like this," he said. "I don't know how he has the vision and understanding of where he wants to be 200 laps ahead. It just amazes me that he can see how he wants it to play out and just picks and chooses his pit stops and what fuel mileage he wants to create for the car, and there we were running second at the end of the race."He just delivered that (win) to me wrapped in a bow. The rest of our competition was mired in traffic and we weren't. That's Steve. That's all Steve. I think he's more confident in his choices, the cars are running better, and like I said, a year or two ago, we were running third or fourth and someone else gets the luck of the draw and wins the race, whereas today we're good enough not to be leading and dominating, but were there when something strikes the leader."And whether it's Letarte's pit calls or solid late race restarts such as the one he had Sunday, Earnhardt, Jr. has also taken a different approach to his late race strategy, regardless of his position on the track."I kept telling myself under the caution laps to just drive - I kept telling myself under the pace laps that we weren't beaten, that if something went right and we worked hard on the restart, maybe he (Keselowski) slips, maybe he makes a mistake, and we get by him," Earnhardt, Jr. said. "I just kept trying to be positive and work hard on the restarts and be diligent and try to hope for the best instead of mentally forfeiting the race."Part of that can be credited to a strong bond with Letarte, who is in his last season as Earnhardt's crew chief."We're having fun," Letarte said. "We go to the racetrack expecting good results because of the momentum and hard work (we've put in) and the race cars we brought."That's a good problem to have, to have high expectations. You have to be very careful. They can become very fragile very quick and you have to manage them when they don't come your way. It's emotionally easy to win races; it's difficult to lose them."Expectations aside, Earnhardt, Jr. is just happy to be in contention."I turn 40 this year, and I just have to try to maximize what's left of my career and have as much as I can, try to enjoy it as much as I can," he said. "I took it for granted, and I don't take anything for granted anymore when it comes to being at the racetrack and working with my team and how hard it is to get good and get competitive and how hard it is to get people in the right place."I feel like I'm such a lucky guy to have this second opportunity almost to be competitive again. I've been given another opportunity working with Steve (Letarte) and these last five years or so have been a blessing, and I feel like I've made a good account of myself, and I think we've got more work we can do."