Joe Cavaretta / AP

Greg Biffle (right), whose average finish in the last four Cup races at Michigan International Speedway is 3.5, is one of the Roush Racing drivers with a good shot at winning on Sunday at the two-mile oval, writes Benny Parsons of MSNBC.com.

Benny Parsons

On Sunday the Nextel Cup Series makes its second stop of the season at Michigan International Speedway, and I can see the race winner coming from among four Roush Racing drivers: Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, or Carl Edwards.

Working in Biffle's favor
Biffle likes competing at Michigan because the track gives him and the other drivers a lot of room to race. And his results at this oval have certainly been impressive.

In seven Cup starts at Michigan, Biffle has won twice (June 2004 and August 2005). He has four top-fives, and five top-10s. His average start position is 20.6, and his average finish position is 10th.

A year ago in this event Biffle started 31st but crossed the checkers sixth, and in June he led for 11 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish.

On Sunday Biffle's crew chief Doug Richert will have his driver in the same car he ran at both events at Pocono Raceway earlier this season.

Pocono is a track similar to Michigan, and in June Biffle started seventh and came home sixth there while in July he began 20th and posted a 24th-place result.

Richert has his team making a few changes to the body of this chassis to make it a little more like the style Biffle has run at Michigan in the past.

A key thing to watch with Biffle is with his being 13th in the championship standings he will be racing for points with just four races remaining before the cutoff for qualifying for the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

Where he stands in points might make Biffle less aggressive for a win if he feels that by trying for a victory late in the race he could jeopardize a solid finish and the points that go with it.

Other drivers to watch
Biffle would like nothing better than to pick up a win at a track that is in Ford’s backyard, and that sentiment is shared by the other Roush Racing drivers in their Fords.

Matt Kenseth has finished in the top 10 eight times in his last 10 races at Michigan. In June Kenseth was 13th at this venue where last year he was fourth in the June event, and third in the August race.

Kenseth picked up his only Michigan win in June of 2002, and his average Michigan finish of 8.4 is best all-time among drivers with five or more starts at the track.

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Mark Martin's car was off at Michigan in June resulting in a 27th-place result. But Martin has four wins at this venue, and his 26 top-10 finishes at the two-mile oval are the most of any active driver.

Martin's crew chief Pat Tryson knows Michigan is one of his driver's favorite tracks, and so to try and add to Martin's success at this venue, Tryson is bringing the same car that Martin ran at Indianapolis a few weeks ago. Given it was a top-five car at Indy, Tryson is optimistic over Martin's chances on Sunday.

In June Carl Edwards finished second at Michigan. He has made four Cup starts at the track, and finished in the top 10 each time -- three of those results being top-fives.

A fifth Roush Racer, Jamie McMurray, who came over to Roush last winter after three-plus years with Chip Ganassi Racing, had a solid third-place finish last weekend on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.). But McMurray still has to show he can be a strong contender in a Roush car on the oval tracks.

Kasey Kahne won in June at Michigan after not running well last year at this venue. If the bottom of the track does not give up speed on Sunday, and drivers have to run high to be fast, than I expect Kahne -- who loves the high groove -- to be a top contender.

Tony Stewart, who was in a wreck in June at Michigan and finished 41st, usually runs well at this track, where his Cup resume reads one win (June of 2000), six top-fives, and nine top-10s in 15 races.

Factoring into why the two-time Cup champion fares so well at this venue is that it is a track with three groves -- bottom, middle, and top. Stewart is a guy who loves the bottom, and he won't venture off of it.

And if he gets his car to run well down low, he's difficult to beat because racing the bottom is a shorter way around the track than is racing the middle or top groove.

I was impressed with the run in June at Michigan made by Jeff Gordon, who in the past has struggled at intermediate tracks. Gordon led for the most laps (50), and he crossed the checkers eighth.

One of Gordon's teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, who finished sixth in June at this two-mile oval, could contend for the win at Michigan, where he was on the pole for the August 2004 race, and where he had a top-10 finish in this event a year ago.