2008 Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks

2008 Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks:

Last weekend the Sprint Cup stars were subjected to 600 miles at Lowes Motor Speedway. Although this weekend's race is 200 miles shorter the 2008 Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway is no less grueling.

Dover International Speedway's "Monster Mile" chews up cars, tires and drivers.

Tickets:

Speedway ticket office 302-734-RACE or 800-441-RACE

Buy online from TicketsNow (direct link)

The Track:

Dover Downs is a high-banked one-mile concrete oval. The high-grip surface lets drivers really get aggressive and push the car, but at the expense of tire wear.

On a typical race day in Dover you'll see a number of different strategies play out. The race can be won by charging hard all day, by laying back and saving your tires for the end, or even by playing the fuel mileage game. You just never know what Dover will bring.

Race Distance:

400 Laps = 400 Miles

The Big Picture:

Kyle Busch posted yet another strong top three finish last week to hold onto his point lead.

Kasey Kahne scored the win last week in Charlotte and knocked David Ragan out of the top twelve in points. Kahne now holds onto the bubble spot in the Sprint Cup standings.

The top twelve are now:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Burton -99
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -144
4. Denny Hamlin -254
5. Clint Bowyer -287
6. Carl Edwards -327
7. Kevin Harvick -348
8. Tony Stewart -354
9. Jimmie Johnson -372
10. Jeff Gordon -379
11. Greg Biffle -387
12. Kasey Kahne -411

Storylines:

Dover International Speedway itself will take center stage this week. This speedway is tough. Races here used to be a full 500 miles and the marathon events were deemed too long for the Sprint Cup faithful. Even the shorter 400 mile distance still poses a challenge for man and machine.

Dover is also receiving some continued fan-friendly improvements like the new Victory Plaza and its 46-foot tall Monster Monument. This race track is always evolving and the new imrpovements fit in nicely with the world-class racing within.

Media Coverage:

TV: Fox Sunday, June 1st, 1:00PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and SIRIUS Satellite

Actual Race: 1:40PM Eastern

Recent Events:

2007 Winner: Martin Truex Jr.

2007 Polesitter: Ryan Newman

Last Year:

Last year Martin Truex Jr. scored the first win of his Sprint Cup career. Truex got free of traffic on a late race restart and put a big enough gap on the pack that his older tires were able to carry him to Victory Lane.

The big story from this race last year was Kurt Busch pulling along side Tony Stewart on pit road after an on-track altercation. Busch came dangerously close to one of Stewart's crew members and was parked by NASCAR.

Predictions:

Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Martin Trues Jr. won this race last year. When the series returned in the fall Dale Earnhardt Jr. posed one of his best finishes of the season with a solid third place run.

Given DEI's success in 2007 I am going with DEI driver, and four-time Dover winner, Mark Martin as my primary pick. Mark has been close a few times this season. Given that Dover is one of his team's strongest tracks and one of Mark's favorites this week provides a great opportunity for the part-timer to score a big win.

My backup pick this week is a bit more traditional. Jeff Burton is currently second in points but has been having a pretty quiet 2008. Burton's sole win of 2008 came at the other high-banked concrete speedway when he won at Bristol in March.

Burton also has a previous Dover win (2006) making him a great backup pick for this weekend's 2008 Best Buy 400.