2006 Neighborhood Excellence 400 by Bank of America at Dover International Speed

Dover International Speedway is often overlooked on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup schedule. This Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400 by Bank of America has some interesting stories to play out. Can Tony Stewart overcome a broken shoulder to salvage a decent points day? Will Greg Biffle repeat his win from 2005 and finally claw back into the top ten in points? Here is the full preview of the 2006 Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence 400.

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

Buy online from TicketsNow (direct link)

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.

400 Laps = 400 Miles

Jimmy Johnson is comfortable at the top. The real battle is for tenth place in the points. This is a great battle as Kevin Harvick holds off Casey Mears by just 52 points. Tenth is important because only the top ten qualify for The Chase.

The current points top ten are:

1. Jimmie Johnson -0
2. Matt Kenseth -109
3. Mark Martin -209
4. Tony Stewart -231
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -271
6. Kasey Kahne -292
7. Jeff Gordon -410
8. Jeff Burton -411
9. Kyle Busch -424
10. Kevin Harvick -435

Last week Tony Stewart suffered two hard crashes. After hitting hard on Sunday Tony had to be helped from the car and taken to the hospital. Tony has a broken shoulderblade.

Stewart will have NASCAR veteran Ricky Rudd on hand to practice and qualify the car. Tony will start the race so that he will get credit for the points. However he might well have to get out and let Ricky Rudd finish the day for him.

TV: FX Sunday, June 4th, 1:30PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and XM Satellite

Actual Race: 2:10PM Eastern

$5,667.009

The 2005 June race in Dover was a tale of two separate events. The first 300 miles were dominated by Eliott Sadler as he got the early lead and lead most of the first 300 laps.

When it started to get close to the end Greg Biffle had his car right and was able to dominate the last 100 laps. There was some pit strategy late in the race that made it interesting, but it didn't matter in the end as Greg Biffle was able to take the lead and the win.

In 2005 Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson won the two NEXTEL Cup events at Dover International Speedway. Since Dover wins tend to come in streaks this makes both of them great choices for the win this weekend.

Since I hate to go with both of the favorites for my two picks I'm going with Greg Biffle this time for my primary pick. Biffle has been climbing through the standings and is ready to break into the top ten in points with another strong run.

My backup pick this week goes to Ryan Newman. Ryan is currently buried 22nd in points and has only managed one top five in the twelve races so far in 2006. However, Newman swept both races in Dover in 2003 and won again in the fall of 2004. He knows what the car wants here and how to get the most out of it.