Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin are locked in a battle for position and wins as the Chase to the Sprint Cup approaches. With Stewart leaving JGR at the end of the season and these two only twenty-two points in the standings, things are sure to heat up with this in-house battle. Heading to Watkins Glen, both drivers have the chance to gain ground not only on each other but the rest of the field.

Stewart was last year's winner at the Glen and will be going for a record setting fifth win on the road course. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Camry is always a threat on the road course and was running well late in the going at Infineon until getting caught up in a late race incident that took him out of contention.

"I always feel like we're always a factor at both race tracks, but if you look at the history it seems like if we don't win at Sonoma, then we normally will follow it up with a really good run at Watkins Glen." Stewart pointed out. "I feel like you look at the records and you look over the last 10 years, we're definitely a factor. We're batting better than .400 at Watkins Glen. In nine years, we've won four races. If you can't be counted as a factor after that, I don't know when they do count you as a factor. I feel that we're the guys that every time we go there that everybody has to pay attention to us in order to win. Now, there are times we don't win, obviously, but we're still in the hunt every time and got a shot."

Still without a win thus far in 2008, Stewart is definitely hungry to get back to victory lane. Not only would a win give Stewart the much needed ten bonus points for the Chase, it would also give this team a momentum boost as they make one final run for the championship as a group.

After a disappointing 23rd-place finish in Pocono, Denny Hamlin dropped two spots in the standings to tenth. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Camry explained despite the poor finish at one of his best tracks, the team is still confident.

"Well, we didn't do ourselves any favors at Pocono," Hamlin explained, "especially considering the fact that we saw that race as a big opportunity. But even though we dropped some spots we were by no means safe or comfortable heading to Pocono so our focus doesn't change. We need to go out, get good results and try to lock up a place in the Chase. We still have some good tracks left for us leading into the Chase so we're certainly not overconfident but like the way the scheduled looks given our past performances. Of course, Pocono proved that anything can happen."

The Glen is another track where just about anything can happen. Last year's event saw Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards spin out on their own. Hamlin was able to benefit from both Gordon and Edwards' late race spins and was second behind this teammate Stewart. In two tries at the Glen, Hamlin has two top-10s and feels comfortable with his chances this weekend.

"I'm definitely more confident," says Hamlin. "We've really been successful at road course racing for some reason. For me, it's a lot like short track racing because the cars are set up very similar to that and that's where we tend to excel."

As the Race to the Chase heads into its second half, these two teammates will be trying to match fellow JGR driver Kyle Busch's success. If Stewart can keep his composure and remain focused on the remainder of this season, things might work out in his favor - but that's up to him and crew chief Greg Zipadelli. Hamlin will need to find consistency over the next five weeks to lock himself into the Chase. Top-five runs each weekend will keep Hamlin safe in terms of making the Chase, but another win would do wonders for the third-year driver.