Kansas is no ordinary race for Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards

The title sponsor of Saturday night’s race may be kid friendly, but if Clint Bowyer were to win at Kansas Speedway his victory celebration most certainly won’t be.

“We’re going to need a hospital if we win here,” Bowyer said, alluding to the wild party that would ensue were he to claim victory in the SpongeBob Squarepants 400.

Bowyer’s enthusiasm is explained in that Kansas is his home state, affording him a chance to race in front of his friends and family. The Emporia, Kansas native has never won on the 1.5-mile track and has long spoken about what a victory would mean to him personally and professionally.

“You always have that pressure and when you go home it’s that much more because all your friends will start calling last Thursday -- ‘Are you ready to win Kansas? We’re going to be there Tuesday, are you ready?” Bowyer said.“ It would be awesome to win here.”

If there is someone who can relate to the pressures Bowyer is feeling, it’s Carl Edwards, who hails from nearby Columbia, Mo., just 140 miles from the track. Like Bowyer, Edwards will be racing in front of a partisan crowd Saturday night and is still seeking his first Kansas win after coming painstakingly close seven years ago.

“Somebody sent me a link to the 2008 race with me and Jimmie (Johnson) and that was literally the most upset I’ve ever been after a race because we got so close and I wanted to win so badly,” Edwards said. “It would be a spectacular race to win.

“I drove by this place before I was doing any NASCAR stuff, it’s almost like you don’t want to look at it because it’s all there -- your hopes and dreams. There’s so many people from my hometown and so many people that I’ve raced with that are going to be here.”

Emotions aside, Bowyer and Edwards have other reasons why they need a victory. Both are winless in 2015 and neither has run particularly well through 10 races. Bowyer has two top-10s and is ranked 17th in points, while Edwards has just a lone top-10 finish and sits 18th.

Of the two, Edwards’ slow start is more pronounced. Whereas expectations were muted for Bowyer -- whose Michael Waltrip Racing team is in transition and rebuilding -- Edwards was regarded as a championship contender entering the season, his first with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Wanting to make an early impression on his new team, Edwards admittedly pressed in the opening races, often overdriving. He led 84 laps last month at Bristol Motor Speedway, but made an ill-advised move trying to pass Jeff Gordon late and ended up in the Turn 1 wall. And in the moments where Edwards did exercise patience, bad luck victimized him in the form of flat tires erasing a top-10 effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

“I’ve took some high risks and they haven’t worked out,” Edwards said. “We’ve also had some bad luck and we have not been good enough to go get a win to kind of off-set those things.”

To qualify for the Chase for the Sprint format, however, doesn’t require consistency and provides ample time for teams to work on their issues. All it takes is a single victory to get in.

The key for Edwards is showing greater speed on intermediate speedways, like Kansas; an issue that pertains to all of JGR and not just its newest addition. Mile-and-a-half ovals comprise a hefty portion of the Sprint Cup schedule and half of NASCAR’s playoffs --including an October Kansas date. And to perform well on these types of tracks sets a driver up well to make a championship push later.

“The way I see the season and the way our development is going, the things we are working on should pay off in the next few months. If we can get to that point and run well and get there and enjoy that success, I think we will be good.”

Since the beginning of 2014, JGR and its Toyota engines have lagged considerably behind the Chevrolet-powered teams of Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, and Ford-backed Team Penske. The organization made steady improvements towards the end of last season with JGR driver Denny Hamlin nearly winning the championship. But those gains were negated when NASCAR enacted rule changes over the offseason to decrease horsepower.

With Kansas followed by consecutive races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, another 1.5-mile track, Edwards views the next three weeks as imperative to gauge progress and what the future may hold.

“These next three weeks I think are going to be very important,” Edwards said. I think they’re going to tell us a lot about the season going forward if in these next three weeks JGR and Toyota can work on some of the things we have planned and they are successful.”