This week the Nascar Nextel Cup Series heads to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Bank of America 500.  Held at the historic 1.5 mile Lowe's Motor Speedway, the Bank of America 500 is the second of two races run here during the season.  In July, Casey Mears won Nascar's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, bringing home his first ever win in the series and continuing Hendricks dominance at Lowe's.  With Nascar going back to the old car for this race, expect the usual suspects to be running near the top when this race gets close to its finish. 

When it comes to racing at Lowe's, the most important thing for a car is the horsepower.  Teams with strong engine programs will have a big advantage at this track, as cars will have to have good acceleration, top-end horsepower and good gas mileage.  The speedway's surface is new and this will set up a lot of green racing surfaces, which can make it difficult to set up a car for qualifying and the race.  However, the racing groove has in the past typically widened during the race, which allows drivers to search for a line where their car works the best.  Lowe's is also a temperature sensitive track, meaning teams will have to have an adjustable racecar to adapt to the changing track conditions.  This will be very important because the race will start in the early evening hours when the track temperature can still be very hot and the race will end later in the evening when the temperatures have cooled down.  There are also big variables in this race like harder than normal tires, smaller fuel cells and a pit crew's ability to get a driver positions late in the race.  Those could all factor in to who finishes wear when the checkered flag flies.

When choosing a driver for fantasy nascar, the conversation begins and end with Jimmie Johnson as the best bet.  A quick look at Johnson's history at LMS says it all.  He's raced to 11 Top 10 finishes in 12 career starts at the track with two poles and five victories.  In fact, Johnson has either won or finished second in six of his past seven starts at the track.  This is Hendrick Motorsports backyard and every one of their drivers should be on your team for this weekend, assuming you saved some starts.  Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Kyle Busch will have the absolute best equipment for this race, as Hendrick looks to continue its push for another championship.

Others to Watch

Carl Edwards - Five trips to Charlotte have ended in five top 15 rides, including four in the Top 10 and two in the Top 5.

Kasey Kahne - He's raced to four Top 10's in his past seven starts (six top 20's) and is a true threat to continue this late surge this weekend. Kahne is the defending champion of this event and actually won both 2006 events here.

Denny Hamlin - Hamlin owns three Top 10 finishes in his four career Nextel Cup starts at the track. He has also provided owners with strong bonus point opportunities, having qualified inside of the Top 10 on three occasions.

Mark Martin - Martin is a strong play this weekend at LMS, where he's raced to 21 Top 10 finishes in 45 career starts. He's raced to 16th place or better in each October event run at the track since 1999 with the exception of last year's accident-marred 30th-place run.

Reed Sorenson - Group C's best bet placed fourth at Charlotte in May and now has two straight Top 10's coming into this weekend's race.

What the experts think

My pick - Jimmie Johnson - I know, not exactly going out on a limb with this but my fantasy team is horrible and I saved my last Johnson start for this race.  Barring an accident or car troubles, he's a virtual lock to challenge for the checkered flag this week. 

Sleeper - Casey Mears - Again, not exactly going out on a limb but Mears is a hot driver now, clinching all Top 10's, including sixth at Talladega, in his last 4 races. He's had good success at Lowe's, winning May's race. He also has three top 12s in the past five races at the track, including 12th last October and sixth in October '05.