Five to Watch: Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

LOUDON, N.H. -- NASCAR has invaded New England once again, heading north for the annual trek to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We're in the thick of the NASCAR Playoffs hunt, with just a handful of races remaining before the championship field is set at 16. Read on to see the biggest story lines of the weekend you need to be tracking in Sunday's Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Back of the line, bub: The trio of practice sessions at the "Magic Mile" this weekend were filled with an unusual amount of attrition. Alex Bowman (twice), William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman all incurred significant damage during practice laps at New Hampshire and will have to start Sunday's race in their backups -- or, in Bowman's case, Jimmie Johnson's backup because he wrecked his own -- and from the rear of the field. The 1.058-mile flat track is notoriously hard to pass at, so these drivers (three of which are winless and fighting for playoff positioning) have their work cut out for them.

Road to Victory Lane goes through Gibbs, Penske ... : NASCAR's two powerhouse teams tend to flex their muscle at the "Magic Mile." With the exception of a pair of Kevin Harvick wins -- one of which was last year, and he had to move Kyle Busch out of the way to secure the dub -- and a Brian Vickers underdog miracle, the two-headed monster of NASCAR's elite has won nine of the past 12 NHMS races. Winless season or not, Harvick again poses the biggest threat for a non-Gibbs/Penske driver to win, but any of those seven cars -- particularly the Nos. 2, 18, 19 and 22 – are the heavy, heavy favorites.

… Unless it doesn't: Easy to say after seeing him literally hold off a Gibbs car -- which happened to be driven by his brother -- just a week ago, but it's time to start talking about Kurt Busch as a legitimate title contender and threat to win this weekend. Currently seventh in championship points standings, Busch has caught fire of late with a win, a runner-up result and an average finish of 8.33 over the past six races. His victory was Chevrolet's third in a row -- the first time the manufacturer has done that since late 2015 with a few guys named Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Busch, a three-time winner at NHMS, led a race-high 94 laps in this race last year. Sunday could be an important cornerstone in a potential title run for the '04 champ.

Jonesing for a playoff berth: As unfortunate as the wrecks in practice were for the drivers who will start from the back of the pack, it's inversely a bout of good fortune for the likes of playoff bubble drivers like Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson. Sunday marks a huge opportunity for all three to pick up valuable stage points -- they start fourth, 10th and 14th, respectively -- and the playoff field could look quite different after the checkered flag falls. Jones, in particular, stands to gain some significant ground, having only picked up 52 stage points (18th overall) and sitting just two points ahead of Ryan Newman for the final spot at the moment.

Wicked good drivers: Most folks know that NASCAR’s reigning champion, Joey Logano, is a New England native. He's not the only northeast driver in Sunday's field, though. Maine's Austin Theriault, New Hampshire's Andy Seuss and Connecticut-bred Ryan Preece, who sat down with NASCAR.com Saturday morning, will all vie for some lobstah. For Preece, no stranger to NHMS across several different series and chassis, it marks just the rookie's second Cup Series start here and first as a full-time driver. What's changed since that debut in 2015?

"Just track time, that's been a huge difference," he told NASCAR.com. "All that time that I had helped me get ready for this. I feel like that's one step further ahead than (where I was) and I just keep on going."