ESPN NHRA

Three weeks ago, rain stubbornly delayed Sunday's final eliminations until after 10 p.m. ET at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Now, the NHRA POWERade series might be in for similar treatment from the elements this weekend at 11th Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., just a short drive outside of Chicago.

While Sunday might actually offer sunny and hot conditions with temperatures near 90 at what has been nicknamed "The Record-Setting Track," Friday and Saturday are expected to be extremely unsettled with severe thunderstorms and heavy downpours forecast. This spring, the Midwest has constantly battled through a steady string of ferocious weather fronts, and hopes are professional qualifying in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle will somehow begin and end on time.

The hot, late spring weather this weekend might very likely curtail the otherwise premium track conditions this facility is famous for, so tuners and setup specialists will have to match the track temperatures to their combinations -- and that's not always an easy thing to do.

Here's a breakdown of what we can look ahead to in Joliet this weekend.

Top Fuel
Hillary Will's popular victory in Topeka a week ago was the latest chapter in this season's remarkable saga of women in motorsports. But behind the headlines, there's another ripple effect caused by Hillary's breakthrough win. There's now another legitimate player in this year's Countdown sweepstakes.

She has moved into fourth in the POWERade standings, with five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher continuing to lead the way, followed by Antron Brown and Larry Dixon (the defending Joliet champion). Will has steadily found added consistency throughout the first half of '08 with a team which benefits from its in-house racing relationship with teammates Doug Kalitta and David Grubnic.

But this is Schumacher's home track, he has two wins here previously, and has advanced to the final round in three of the past four races. Round wins have been his strong suit this season and it's been a long time since Schumacher hasn't gone into a national event as a heavy favorite simply based on principle.

Others who might step up: "Hot Rod" Fuller now has two straight first-round losses following his St. Louis victory. This team could rebound on a good track such as Route 66; Cory McClenathan looked like a shoe-in for a final-round appearance in Topeka with two stout passes in Rounds 1 and 2, before smoking his tires against Will in the semifinals; It has been noted before that Brandon Bernstein is long overdue for his first win of 2008 and his team is hungry to give him one; Doug Kalitta ran the quickest pass in NHRA history here in 2004 -- 4.420 seconds.

Funny Car
Now that John Force has regained his winning stride following last September's serious crash in Dallas, building on his win in Topeka last weekend is the top priority for the 14-time champion and his Team Castrol. Besides maintaining his round-winning rhythm this weekend, Force knows his other three cars driven by his daughter, Ashley, Robert Hight and Mike Neff also have to slide into a consistent groove to give them firepower and solid programs as the season edges nearer to the Countdown to One.

All four John Force Racing entries are in the top 10, but they are surrounded by a hardcore lineup of tough customers, not the least of whom is Tim Wilkerson -- an Illinois native who was recently honored in his hometown of Springfield with "Tim Wilkerson Day." A win for Wilkerson this Sunday would be the perfect punctuation mark for the current POWERade points leader.

Cruz Pedregon is showing some genuine staying power this year and many in the class feel he's a win about to happen while his brother, Tony Pedregon -- the defending POWERade champion -- has been a nonfactor since his last win six races ago in Gainesville, Fla. You have to believe he's ready to bust loose, and since he's currently tied with Ron Capps for sixth place in the F/C standings, he'll surely be looking to break that tie in Joliet.

More racers to keep tabs on: Bob Tasca III is making an impressive run for the Road to the Future Award this season. The rookie driver is 10th in the points and has come dramatically close to reaching his first pro final round at least once this year; Jack Beckman would like to take that tenth spot away from Tasca, trailing him by only 11 points; Gary Scelzi missed heading to his first final round of '08 last week, losing to Wilkerson in the Topeka semifinals by 13 thousandths of a second. He's the defending event champion in Joliet.

Pro Stock
Greg Anderson has never won this race. That's somewhat of a surprise as the category's quickest driver has never scored a victory at arguably the series' quickest facility. Adding to that rather puzzling stat is the fact the three-time POWERade champion hasn't won a race since Houston in March. In fact, the anticipated Summit Racing tidal wave of performance in 2008 hasn't materialized with teammate Jason Line now on the receiving end of a first-round loss streak in the past three races.

Ron Krisher's Topeka win last week was a shot in the arm for his program but it will take more than his breakout performance to tangibly change the balance of power in Pro Stock. Jeg Coughlin Jr., the defending event champion, his teammate Dave Connolly, and the Johnson clan -- Warren and Kurt (the new points leader) -- have power to spare and have had a performance edge at most races this year. But one look at the points standings reveals potential race-winning drivers are scattered all over the top 10, and repeat winners have been a rarity in the season's first half. Translation: Nobody has manufactured a hot streak … yet.

Possible Joliet frontrunners: V. Gaines has a win this year and continues to win rounds. His 11-8 record and avoidance of a first-round loss since Atlanta has put him into the top five in points; Larry Morgan has been in a dreadful rut all year but his final-round showing in Topeka could give him some topspin this weekend; Keep an eye on Connolly. He could work his way into the top 10 with a win this weekend after sitting out the first five races of '08.

Pro Stock Motorcycle
After a two-race layoff, the bikes will now be back on the chase for the next four events. When we left off, three-time POWERade champion, points leader and '07 Joliet winner Andrew Hines had carved up the field in St. Louis for his second consecutive win, on his way to rolling up a sturdy 13-2 round record. He and teammate Ed Krawiec are holding down the fort for Harley-Davidson with Buell riders Matt Smith, the reigning series champion, Matt Guidera, three-time champion Angelle Sampey, and Suzuki runner Chip Ellis all scrambled together in the top five.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone defending the principle of parity in the PSM class this year with Suzukis consistently coming up short in the performance stats. A perfect example of that is what happened in St. Louis, with Ellis the lone Suzuki racer still on the table when the semifinals rolled around, only to drop his semi matchup against Hines.

The Suzukis have been shut out of the winner's circle celebrations so far in 2008, and it will take a super-human effort from racers riding the imported brand such as Ellis, Karen Stoffer, Shawn Gann, Craig Treble or Steve Johnson to reverse that monopoly.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN.com.