NASCAR - Race 2 Preview for the Track Nicknamed the MONSTER MILE

NASCAR visits the Monster Mile at Dover International Speedway, in Delaware. There have been 7 different winners in the last 7 races and it should be a phenomenal race. It is hard to pick the top ten this week since so many drivers have done well at this track and so many drivers are hot right now.

1st Tony Stewart is the hottest driver over the last 9 races this season, with 3 wins, 6 top four finishes and a 4.6 finish average. In his first 12 races at Dover he finished in the top five 9 times, with 2 wins and a 4.3 average finish. But he hasn't finished higher than 15th in the five races since. Earlier this season at this track he had a run-in with Kurt Busch and finished 40th, then in 2006 he spun on lap 11, collecting chase contender Kasey Kahne, and ended up 33rd. He has led 1066 laps, an average of 63 per race.

2nd Kyle Busch finished second here in his first start, leading 90 laps, then he finished 2nd and 5th after that. The next race he started 27th and was in second place by lap 100, but shortly after blew the motor.

3rd Jeff Gordon was running like he did in 1998 up until a few races ago, but I still think he is this year's champ if Stewart doesn't beat him. Has had bad luck recently at this track, finishing 36th or worst in 3 of the last 7 races, but expect him to make his own luck this week. In 10 of his 29 races, he has won 4 times, finished second 3 times and third 3 times. He has led 2198 laps, an average of 76 per race, tops among drivers.

4th Jimmie Johnson won 3 of his first 8 races here and has 7 of 11 top ten finishes. Not bad considering he had two races of 32nd or worse, and finished 15th the last race after blowing a tire with five laps to go while running second to Truex. He has led 553 laps, 50 per race. On the season, has finished in the top six in 5 of the last 6 races with 2 wins and a 6.2 average finish.

5th Martin Truex Jr has finished in the top six in 4 of the last 6 races this year, with only one worse than 11th. He beat Ryan Newman by 7.3 seconds in the first race this season, leading 216 of the last 274 laps. He finished 6th and 22nd in his other two starts.

6th Clint Bowyer had top ten finishes in 6 of 9 races in mid-season, but it wasn't until recently that he got hot and if he wouldn't have spun out going for the lead at Richmond, he may have had top three finishes in 3 of the last 4 races. He had no challenges the whole race at New Hampshire. He has finished 8th here twice.

7th Ryan Newman was the only one to challenge Truex Jr in the last race, leading 135 laps. He has led over 100 laps on four occasions, once leading 325 laps in 2004. He won 3 of the 5 races Johnson didn't from 2002 to 2005. He has top tens in 8 of 11 races and his average of 8.4 at this track is the best by a bit of any driver with at least five starts. He has only finished worse than 14th on one occasion and that race he led 28 laps before fading back. He has led 807 laps, 73 per race. On the season he has 6 of 11 top 6 finishes recently, but no top fives.

8th Matt Kenseth has been hot here the last 3 races, finishing 5th, 10th and 1st. He led 83 laps in his win, then led 215 laps in his tenth place finish, a race that Jeff Burton passed him with 7 laps to go for the win. Kenseth ran out of gas with two laps to go. He only has one top 5 finish in the 11 previous races here, with four finishes worse than 29th. But, prior to that he finished 6th, 4th and 2nd in his first three starts. On the season he has 7 of 11 finishes in the top ten recently, but only two top fives. Only one finish was worse than 14th.

9th Mark Martin finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in 2004 and 2005. Then he led 39 laps in the second race of 2006 and was leading by two seconds with 140 laps to go, but loose lugs from a pit stop relegated him to a 9th place finish. The first here race in 1997 he lost to Ricky Rudd by .091 seconds, then he won 3 of the next 5 races. He led over 100 laps in 4 of those 6 races, including 379 of the 400 in 1998. I still remember him going for his first win back in 1988, battling Dale Earnhardt and smoking his tires on the old asphalt surface.

10th Denny Hamlin needs a good run and Dover may be the answer where he has finished 11th, 9th and 4th in his three starts. However, he has finished 15th or worse in 6 of the last 10 races this season. A strong driver with a strong car and strong team should rebound.

On the Bubble
Carl Edwards finished 3rd and 2nd the last two races here
Greg Biffle's last 6 finishes here were 6th, 5th, 8th, 13th, 1st and 11th.

Buckle up this weekend fans for one of NASCAR's best tracks.