Growing up in nearby Emporia, KS, Bowyer looks forward to his annual trip home.

"That's your hometown, and everybody wants a little piece of you whether it be family, friends or sponsors that have helped me through the years," Bowyer said. "It's a fun and exciting weekend. It's a long weekend, too. When the weekend is over, I'm worn out, but I've always had a good time."

Bowyer, running a limited Nationwide schedule for Richard Childress Racing in 2009, has yet to win at Kansas, but has finished second, fourth and fifth in his last three races there.

Two drivers have won a NASCAR national touring race at their home tracks so far this year, with Brad Keselowski taking the checkered flag for the Nationwide event at Michigan and Denny Hamlin driving into Victory Lane for the Sprint Cup race at Richmond.

Bowyer has never recorded consecutive wins in Nationwide competition.

Kyle Busch enters Kansas with a 211-point lead over Carl Edwards. Busch had the dominant car for the first half of the 200-lap race at Dover, but Bowyer came on strong shortly after the midway point and took over from there. Bowyer held off Mike Bliss and Brad Keselowski in a seven-lap shootout to the finish.

Busch finished fourth, while Edwards came in fifth. Busch became the second driver in NASCAR's second-tier series to lead more than 2,000 laps for the year. Sam Ard led a total of 2,099 laps during his 28-race championship season in 1984.

Last year, Denny Hamlin became the eighth different winner in as many Nationwide races at Kansas. Hamlin is not competing in Saturday's 300-mile event.

Fifty-two teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Kansas Lottery 300, including three former Kansas winners -- Joe Nemechek (2004), Kevin Harvick (2006) and Busch (2007).

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