I love driving the stripe and playing mind games (sorry to those in the other lane). My advice starts with the must haves....must have a consistent car, and you must be pretty good on the tree. With that said, I spent a lot of time collecting data on my car like:
1. If I rip it once, how much time does that drop.
2. If I rip it twice, how much time does that drop.
3. If I drag the brake at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
4. If I lift at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
5. If I spot drop at XXXXX location on the track, it will kill 0.xx ET.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Once you have the data you can make a game plan..... depending on the situation, and your level of comfort, you can mess with the driver in the other lane (like dialing it soft, making the opponent catch you, then dump him at the stripe)....or just dial it "honest" and know that if you are way ahead at the stripe you can (for example) womp the gas once to kill 0.02 in ET.
I've had a lot of fun with this type of thing over the years. One of fairly recent (2 years back), I entered my car in Pro and Sportsman....Pro dial was 6.4x (lost fairly early), and in Sportsman dialed my car 12.1 (with my low 10 second car, lol). Employing a combination of 2 spot drops, I was able to run consistent 12.1's.....Some guys got mad, some thought I was nuts, but most who know me knew I was just having fun and would be fairly easy to pick off IF you and your car on on it......long story short, I lost in the final in Sportsman to a guy that I beat 2 rounds earlier (he was double entered). I had fun, and I don't take this stuff that serious....its just a fun way to break up the monotony some times. :)