KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Carl Edwards generally loves the two races a year at Kansas Speedway.

He was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri, and spent his formative years racing late models across the Midwest. So to this day, Edwards considers the mile-and-a-half speedway just down Interstate 70 and on the other side of the state line his home track.

He gets to see family and friends. The crowd adores him. There really are no drawbacks.

Except that he can’t seem to win there. And that presents a problem heading into Sunday’s Sprint Cup race. It’s the second stop in the three-race round of 12 in the championship Chase, and a win would take the stress out of Talladega by assuring him a spot in the next round.

“It’s pretty obvious the pressure is pretty high in general with this format,” said Edwards, who will start third. “But there is more pressure coming here. And it’s good pressure.”

In fairness, Edwards actually has been to victory lane at Kansas, though it was in the Truck Series more than a decade ago. It was the first time Edwards could ever remember hearing the crowd over the sound of the engine.

Kansas hasn’t been so kind to him in the intervening years. He’s won 38 times in the Xfinity Series, but never in seven tries at Kansas, and none of his 27 wins in the Sprint Cup Series has come there.

Perhaps most disappointing is how often his car has been capable of winning.

“This place, it’s going to be special when we go to victory lane. It’s going to be really cool,” he said, making clear that it’s a matter of “when” and not “if” he wins a race.

“Just the idea of winning here in front of all these people who supported me so much,” Edwards said, “that would be huge. But the icing on the cake would be no pressure at Talladega.”

Jimmie Johnson already has the pressure off after his win last weekend at Charlotte, and one of the 11 other Chase contenders could be in the same situation on Sunday.

Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch qualified on the front row, while Edwards gave the Gibbs stable a sweep of the top three spots.

XFINITY SERIES: Kyle Busch won at Kansas for the third straight time in the Xfinity Series on Saturday, while Chase contenders Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez followed him to the line to help their championship hopes.

Busch started from the pole and led 150 laps for his ninth series win this season.

Fellow Sprint Cup regulars Joey Logano and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five on a damaging day for several drivers beginning the three-race round of eight of their title run.

Justin Allgaier and Darrell Wallace Jr. were involved in a late wreck, though Allgaier’s partially destroyed car was able to finish a lap down in 14th. Wallace wound up 33rd.

Brendan Gaughan also had late trouble and finished 31st.