Clint Bowyer Comes to Kansas Speedway with a Fighting Chance to Win

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(R-L) Clint Bowyer, the driver of the #14 Haas 30 Years of the VF1 Ford, talks with NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton outside the inspection tent during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 11, 2018, in Kansas City, Kansas. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – There’s still a major hole in Clint Bowyer’s bucket list.

Bowyer hasn’t been able to win at Kansas Speedway, his home track. Neither could Carl Edwards, a Missouri driver who also claimed Kansas Speedway as his home turf.

For Bowyer, though, this year is different. The driver who grew up racing on dirt at nearby Lakeside Speedway made an important career move in 2017 when he accepted a ride with Stewart-Haas Racing.

This season, Bowyer has hit his stride, winning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race with Stewart-Haas at Martinsville in March and running second to SHR teammate Kevin Harvick last week at Dover.

Accordingly, Bowyer comes to Kansas with an eminently competitive car and a chance to get the victory he craves most in Saturday night’s KC Masterpiece 400 (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It’s always fun to get back here, especially when you’re running well, and everything is upbeat and having a ton of fun,” Bowyer said on Friday at Kansas Speedway. “There are so many positive things going on in my world – Stewart-Haas, the Ford camp, everything.

“It’s just been a ton of fun from the word go when we unloaded at Daytona. Certainly, rolling into Kansas off that momentum and having all that confidence on our side feels good, so I’m looking forward to the race (Saturday) night.”

With Bowyer, a victory at Kansas, where he watched Jeff Gordon win the track’s inaugural race in 2001, would guarantee a celebration of epic proportions.

“This is where it all started, right down the road at Lakeside,” Bowyer said. “Everybody knows my story here, watching the first race, and I just can’t think of a possible way to solidify everything and bring it all back home than to win right here.

“I won that Truck race a few years ago (2011), but to be able to roll into Victory Lane in a Cup race, I don’t even know if you’d find me in Victory Lane. I don’t know where you’d find me.”