NASCAR at Kansas: Clint Bowyer says Hollywood 400 win could be his 'Daytona 500'

The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of any NASCAR year. Then it's the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead next month, which will decide the Sprint Cup champion. However, it's a long season and different races have different levels of importance for certain racers. Sports Illustrated's Lars Anderson writes Clint Bowyer, an Emporia, Kan. native, puts this weekend's Hollywood Casino 400 up there with Daytona:

"Coming off of the win obviously rolling into your hometown is lot of fun. If we could possibly pull this off again in Kansas, it would be, that's my, do you dare say Daytona 500? But it truly is."

Bowyer is currently in fourth place in the Sprint Cup standings and is coming off a win last week at the Bank of America 500. The win put him just 28 points back of Brad Keselowski for first place. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin are in second and third place, respectively.

Bowyer finished seventh in last year's race and starts from the No. 3 position in this year's race. The green flag for the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway drops Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.