Kansas City, Kan. — Two drivers wanted to win at Kansas Speedway’s Camping World RV 400 on Sunday more than anyone else: a Kansas driver and a Missouri driver.

On the Kansas side, Emporia native and Jayhawk fan Clint Bowyer called Sunday’s race a border war.

On the Missouri side, Carl Edwards of Columbia, Mo, said the race meant more to him than any other race on the schedule. The racers both called it their hometown track.

With the race being a homecoming race with major implications for the Sprint Cup Series Championship, both racers made risky moves.

Bowyer, looking for his first win at the speedway after a second-place finish in 2007 and a ninth-place finish in 2006, got off to a rough start. After beginning the race 24th, Bowyer jumped the start, resulting in a pass-through penalty, which put him one lap behind.

Though the penalty put him in 43rd place, Bowyer came back to compete for a win and was in third place 120 laps into the 267-lap event. Bowyer was in sixth place 210 laps into the race but was penalized for starting a pit stop too fast and fell 10 spots. Bowyer finished the race in 12th place.

Edwards, who hoped to hold onto the top spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, attempted to pull off what he called a “banzai move” on the third turn of lap 266 to pass race winner Jimmie Johnson. As a result of this maneuver, he hit the outside wall of the track.

“I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much,” Edwards said. “In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open.”

On second thought, Edwards said, he thought the risky maneuver should have been called a “Kamikaze move” instead.

“I watched him pound the wall and get back in the gas and thought, man, he’s serious about this win,” Johnson said

With seven races remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Bowyer is in seventh place in the standings and 64 points behind first place Johnson. Edwards fell to second place on Sunday and is ten points behind Johnson. Johnson has won the Sprint Cup series the last two years.

Next up in the Sprint Cup Series is the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. on Oct. 7.

— —Edited by Adam Mowder