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.

Like Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a very solid run at Michigan in June coming home third. Junior will be back in the same car on Sunday that he had two months ago at Michigan.

The challenge for Junior's team and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. is to repair the chassis -- which at Pocono sustained some damage -- so that it will be just as fast or faster than it was June.

A few other drivers to keep an eye on are Kevin Harvick (a winner last week at Watkins Glen), Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch.

My darkhorse is Jeff Burton, who turned in a very respectable 11th-place finish at Michigan in June.

Keys to success at Michigan
To run this track and to run it well I think a driver needs a lot of experience. That experience translates to the ability to find more grip -- if needed -- on this very wide track.

This is a track where drivers can run two and even three distinct grooves. With the multiple grooves there is a lot of room for drivers to move around and make some exciting passes.

If a driver can't get his car to grip on the bottom of the track, he can try to run in the middle or run high. And drivers like Kasey Kahne, who have reputations for going to the top of tracks, will likely look to run high at Michigan.

But I think the real key is which driver will have the car that can run well at the bottom of the track because I think that car will be the one to beat.

With a wide track offering a lot of room to run and to pass, races at Michigan are usually pretty clean.

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Bobby Labonte is one of those, but there aren't too many others as most drivers brake with their left foot since they became accustomed to doing that while growing up racing on short tracks.

But by braking with the left foot there are times, especially when going into the corners of a track, that a driver has one foot set on the brake and the other on the accelerator -- and there is nothing that causes poor fuel mileage as much as that does. 

Finally, there's a long pit road at Michigan so I expect some drivers will be penalized for speeding, especially under green-flag pit stops.