Racing the stripe if you have the lead

When you both are prestage look over at your competitor and line something up to use as a reference. For me I use my passenger side mirror if I'm running the left lane. If I'm running the right lane I have a piece of black electrical tape on my driver side window. Typically depending on how wide the track is those marks need to be just in front of my opponent's front tire. Take note of your opponent's car in the staging lanes as some cars have stripe takers, while others have a lower valance or may have a really low nose like a Late 80's camaro/firebird that trips the finish line stripe with their nose and not their tire. If I remember correctly at my local track that starting line beams are 1 9/16" high while the finish line beams are 3". Some of the drivers with cars like such even if they don't typically trip the beam with their nose if they jab the brakes could, so just something else to consider. As far as making it closer at the strip, you can whomp, drag the break, ease out of the throttle or jab the brakes.