Racing the stripe if you have the lead

Well speaking as a person who's car was all over the board last season, I had to play the stripe. I used to just rip the throttle a few times but it just didn't take enough out of the car. A wise older racer told me that basically I had to make a decision to either stay on it or put on the brakes. I started to put the brakes on if I was 1/2 car ahead near the stripe and have had very good success with it. I don't like doing it and I am making changes in the off season with the hope of making the car more consistent. A word of caution: if you have good brakes on the car be careful how hard you hit the brakes because I have locked them up at the stripe before