The Western Swing soldiers on and the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series has little time to catch its breath. With barely enough of a break to savor the events which highlighted the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver last weekend, the CarQuest Auto Parts Northwest Nationals at the newly upgraded Pacific Raceway, formerly Seattle International Raceway, opens for business Friday.

It's the second leg of the annual three-races-in-a-row marathon out West, which winds up in Sonoma, Calif., right on the heels of the Seattle stopover.

Here's what to watch for in the three pro categories this weekend.

Top Fuel
Larry Dixon's wire-to-wire sweep in Denver (race victory, No. 1 qualifier, low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend) is further proof that his ever-widening lead in the POWERade points is no fluke. Right now, even his most committed adversaries are reluctant to predict or promise a hard-fought battle for the championship. With 10 races left, the Top Fuel class bears a striking resemblance to the one we watched in 2002, when Dixon banked a daunting points lead in the first half and remained far enough ahead the rest of the way to avoid a nail-biting climax for the title.

Without risk of exaggeration, Dixon and tuner Lahaie can win any race, at any racetrack, in any atmospheric conditions. Will they win in Seattle? Obviously they can, but the larger question is whether or not it's conceivable they fall into a lengthy tailspin this late in the season to give Doug Kalitta -- the only driver with a remotely reasonable shot at catching them -- an opening. There's no evidence a Dixon/Lahaie collapse is imminent, and for the rest of the drivers in the Top Fuel class, you'd hate to have to rely on that scenario to prop up your chances at running them down.

Funny Car
Following his first win of the year in Denver last week, John Force made it clear that with such a huge deficit to make up to catch his teammate Tony Pedregon, his focus will be primarily in beating the drivers who pose the most serious threat to a Team Castrol championship. "Realistically, with Tony still 326 points ahead (of me), my job has changed," Force said.

"The last 10 years, my job was to win the championship for my team and my sponsors, but now my job is to beat (Whit) Bazemore, (Del) Worsham and Ron Capps and everyone else to help Tony win this title for us. We've got three race cars over here, but this is one team and when one of us wins the championship, we all win."

Pedregon has cooled recently, following a first half that tallied six wins and a triple-digit points lead. Tony still leads Bazemore by 124-points, but Whit remains one of the category's most dangerous drivers -- capable of winning rounds and winning races when his combination is clicking. Worsham has to be considered a threat, although his inconsistency (despite winning in St. Louis) needs to be corrected before it's too late. The same can be said for Capps, who has yet to put two resounding races together this year.

Pedregon returns to Seattle the defending event champion, and after his first Round 1 loss in Denver last week, his first since St. Louis '02, he suddenly looks more beatable than he has all year. It's now up to the drivers trying to get around him in the points to take advantage.

Pro Stock
The Denver results put a slightly different wrinkle on the Pro Stock picture heading into Seattle.

Keyword: Slightly.

Warren Johnson stymied everyone with a lackluster qualifying performance which had him starting raceday in the No. 9 spot -- from where he had not only never won a race, but had never won a round of racing in his career. On Sunday, he was sharp on the starting line and had the power to win as he beat Greg Anderson head-to-head in Round 2 and then Jeg Coughlin in the final for his third win of the year.

So what changes?

Only the prospect of WJ suddenly turning red hot and fighting his way back into the championship race, which for most of the season has been the property of Anderson and WJ's son, Kurt. If Anderson doesn't rebound in Seattle and keep both Johnsons from gathering some steam, his points lead could evaporate in a hurry. Greg is still the major force to be reckoned with in the class but if the Johnsons outpunch Anderson on the Swing, we'll have a very tight, very unpredictable Pro Stock picture staring us in the face as we head to Brainerd.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.