Insider's View: Wally Dallenbach

Michigan International Speedway is one of the raciest tracks on the Winston Cup circuit. It's a track that most drivers love to race at because it's wide, smooth and great for side-by-side racing.

	Wally Dallenbach

Michigan and its sister track in Fontana are pretty similar in layout. They're both sweeping, two mile superspeedways with big wide turns and a D-shaped front straightaway. You carry a lot of speed into the turns at Michigan, but if you have a good handling race car, you can still get beside someone and race then hard.

Although Michigan and California are similar in many ways, the difference between the two is grip. Michigan is an older track and has less grip than Fontana, so your car can get real loose through the corners at MIS in a hurry. Guys will probably use similar set-ups at the two, but Michigan is a lot tougher on tires.

Getting down at the bottom of the track is the fastest way around Michigan. But you want to let the car kick out a bit as you exit the turns so you get a nice run down either the back straightaway or the frontstretch. You want your momentum to carry you out of the turns as you get back on the throttle so you can generate maximum speed.

Michigan has turned into a fuel-mileage race more often than not over the years, so guys that can manage their tires and stops will be contenders. You'll probably see a few teams roll the dice late in the race if their in contention to stretch the fuel out. Sometimes that will work, but sometimes it can blow up right in your face.

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Dale Jarrett has been a force at Michigan, as has team owner Robert Yates over the years. That Yates horsepower is gold at MIS. Dale had a good run going last week at Pocono until he crashed hard, but I expect him to bounce back and run well at Michigan. Look for his teammate Elliott Sadler to also be someone to deal with Sunday.

Ryan Newman will again be someone to watch. He's been turning things around dramatically the last few weeks and he'll no doubt be a contender for the pole.

Jeff Gordon has two Michigan wins in the last four seasons and always runs well there. As does Bobby Labonte, who has quietly shown championship-caliber performance recently.

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