Insider's View: Wally Dallenbach

Last week's soggy story at Lowe's Motor Speedway was disappointing to say the least. NASCAR doesn't have any control over the weather and the call to shorten the race was certainly not going to make anyone happy except Jimmie Johnson, who was leading at the time.

	Wally Dallenbach

Anytime a full race isn't run, the fans feel they've been robbed because they came to see a full race. But there are a lot of issues to take into account and I'm sure NASCAR did what they felt had the best interest of everyone in mind.

So now it's on to Dover and this week's MBNA Family 400. I've always just hated the thought of going to Dover as a driver. But it's one of those places that after 50 laps in the car, I'd fall in love with the place. I really don't know why either except to say it's a fun place to race.

Dover's like Bristol in that you just can't afford to mess up, even a little. If you do, you hit the wall -- hard. The concrete surface can be a little tricky, especially early in the race when it's slippery and there's no rubber down. The track tends to gather a lot of concrete dust and until that stuff blows off, you really have to watch yourself.

Turn 1 at Dover may be the most impressive place to watch a Winston Cup stock car. If you stand on the inside of the track and watch the cars scream though that turn, down low and hugging the inside line, you'll be truly amazed of how much speed these machines can carry.

There's a bump in that turn that literally launches the car into the air. How your car recovers from that lift and settles down will determine how well your lap turns out. If you come down right and can get on the gas you'll do well and power into and out of turn two. If you wait to recover from the launch, you've blown your lap.

	Dover International Speedway is an unusual, one-mile track.

It's easy to push off Turn 2 and you have to get through there perfectly. Turn 3 is a relatively easy ride as you try to get through the center of the corner and hope the car sticks into Turn 4.

You have to be careful though not to let the car slide up as you go through four and down the main straight or else you can easily find yourself slapping the outside wall. And when you crash at Dover, you really crash. There's the outside wall, the inside retaining wall ? it's like you're a ping pong ball if you find yourself in trouble.

I've been impressed with Matt Kenseth ever since his Winston Cup debut at Dover a few years ago when he subbed for Bill Elliott. He loves running there and with a little frustration about finishing second in the rain-shortened Charlotte race last week, he'll be hungry.

Based on his record at Dover, I have to also like Tony Stewart. He's been having a terrible time so far this year but if he can get the car to finish, he'll be someone to watch on Sunday. Likewise his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte, who always seems to be in contention at the Monster Mile.

START YOUR ENGINES  Click here to play Wally Dallenbach's TopDrivers.com Fantasy Game.

Finally Jimmie Johnson is on a roll and comes to a track that he swept in 2002. Look for the Lowe's Chevrolet to continue its recent success.

There's a brand new Shootout kicking off this week on our Top Drivers Fantasy Racing Game. In addition to our weekly CASH prizes, you can get into the next six race shootout beginning this week in Dover and be eligible for a $7000 grand prize. Just visit TopDrivers.com for all the details.