Heads up:Kansas weekend

Here are the hot topics, trending news and key story lines to get you ready for this weekend's races at Kansas Speedway.

WEATHER

The good news? It doesn't appear likely that a hurricane will impact this weekend's racing at Kansas. The highest chance of percipitation is around 20 percent, according to Weather.com.

Otherwise, we're looking at consistent temps hovering around 81 degrees most of Saturday and Sunday, while it will be mostly cloudy and a little cooler (70 degrees) when cars roll on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

KEY TIMES



Sprint Cup Series: The Sprint Cup Series holds its first practice Friday at 1 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App), with Coors Light Pole qualifying at 6:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App).

 The Hollywood Casino 400 is at 2:15 p.m. ET Sunday (NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

XFINITY Series: The XFINITY Series opens practice Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App) and qualifies Saturday at noon ET (CNBC/NBC Sports App). The Kansas Lottery 300 is Saturday at 3 p.m. ET (NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).



CATCH DRIVERS LIVE



We'll stream every driver press conference in the Kansas media center at NASCAR.com/presspass. Click here for a full schedule. Click here to tune into the live stream.

LAST TIME

Like last week, Joey Logano is the defending race winner. The Team Penske driver led 42 of 269 laps to secure a victory in the middle of his three-race sweep of the Round of 12 (Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega) last season. In fact, he has won this race the past two years.

YOU SHOULD KNOW


• Joey Logano had three times as many wins in the Round of 12 last year than he does in all of 2016 (one). In need of a stellar finish -- if not a win -- after limping to a 36th-place finish at Charlotte, Logano certainly isn't hurting for motivation this weekend and Kansas lines up well for the prospects of regaining his mojo. The Penske driver has won two of the past four races at Kansas and had a top-five streak of five races snapped in the spring race (38th).

• Despite winning the race with driver Kyle Busch, the spring event at Kansas didn't favor Toyota as we've seen much of this year, placing just two drivers (Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth) in the top 10. After the pair was the only set of Toyotas in the top 10 at Charlotte, as well, this trend could continue. But then again -- it wouldn't be a shock to see either of those drivers win and advance.

• Some XFINITY Series heavy hitters were knocked out of the Round of 12 after failing to advance at Charlotte in Ty Dillon, Brennan Poole, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg. In the series' first Chase, it'll be interesting to observe how teams adjust after seeing firsthand (in some cases) how a subpar opening round race can put a group in a serious, unrecoverable hole -- quickly.

THE FAVORITE

Martin Truex Jr. While his overall numbers at Kansas Speedway aren't spectacular (17.1 average finish), Truex is still currently the favorite heading into just about every race right now, but in particular on intermediate tracks like this one. Three of his four wins this season have come at tracks similar in length and there's little reason to believe May's pole-winner won't have another stout No. 78 Furniture Row Racing entry this weekend.


Others to consider: Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch.

THE SLEEPER

Chase Elliott. Based on how he's run most of the season, it's hard to picture a winless Chase Elliott this year, even if it is his rookie campaign. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was having a heck of a run at Charlotte (103 laps led, a career high) before wrecking, and has never finished outside the top 10 at Kansas in the three races he's run across Sprint Cup and XFINITY competition. Expect him to be in play on Sunday.


Others to consider: Joey Logano, Carl Edwards.

STAFF PICKS

Matt Kenseth: 2
Chase Elliott: 2
Martin Truex Jr.: 1
Carl Edwards: 1
Brad Keselowski: 1
Jimmie Johnson: 1