February 18, 2006
09:56 AM EST (14:56 GMT)
Wyoming NASCAR's connection to Wyoming is mostly through the efforts of Kyle Petty's annual charity ride for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. • Complete story, click here Wisconsin The Badger State may be best known for brick cheese, brats and beer, but there's more to Wisconsin than dairy cows and Milwaukee's finest. • Complete story, click here West Virginia Home of the New River Gorge Bridge, the Greenbrier hotel and Green Bank Telescope, West Virginia is more than mountains and mines. • Complete story, click here Washington The only state named after a president, Washington is famous for its forests, fishing, floating bridges, flying machines and fruit. It's as much about Bing cherries as Boeing, salmon and the Seahawks, mining and Microsoft. • Complete story, click here Virginia Virginia is for lovers of NASCAR. Old Dominion racing has produced legends like Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner, Ricky Rudd, the Woods and the Burtons. • Complete story, click here Vermont Vermont's racing heritage centers around a broadcaster named Ken Squier, a pair of tracks and a native of Shelburne. • Complete story, click here Utah NASCAR made its way to Utah in 1971, not to run a race but to set speed records -- with Cup champ Bobby Isaac behind the wheel -- on the state's famous salt surfaces. • Complete story, click here Texas Texas has some of the most famous names in American history, like Austin and Houston. It also has some well-known racing names, such as the brothers Labonte. • Complete story, click here Tennessee The Volunteer State is home to one of NASCAR's most popular racetracks, one of the sport's most controversial drivers and plenty of racing history. • Complete story, click here South Dakota The Mount Rushmore State was the birthplace of some of the great Native American tribal chiefs -- Crazy Horse, Red Cloud and Sitting Bull. • Complete story, click here South Carolina The Palmetto State grabs the spotlight as we continue our countown to Daytona. South Carolina's history includes both a Swamp Fox and a Silver Fox. • Complete story, click here Rhode Island Despite its size, Rhode Island can boast of having one resident who has won more NASCAR titles than Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt. • Complete story, click here Pennsylvania Dick Lender's last NASCAR victory was 50 years ago, but the home folks still talk about him. Races are still run in the Poconos, and a Pennsylvania company makes every stock car go fast. • Complete story, click here Oregon Oregon native Hersel McGriff blazed a trail cross-country to compete in the first Southern 500 at Darlington, where he became friends with a man by the name of France. • Complete story, click here Oklahoma Troy Ruttman wanted to race so badly he used his cousin's birth certificate to allow the folks at Indy to let the teen race at the Brickyard. Has the makings of a song, doesn't it? • Complete story, click here Ohio Ohio has had its share of U.S. presidents, and NASCAR drivers -- from the late Tim Richmond to current driver Dave Blaney. Plus, the Craftsman Truck Series makes a yearly stop in Mansfield. • Complete story, click here North Dakota Actresses Angie Dickinson and Ann Sothern are from North Dakota, as are cowboy novelist Louis L'Amour and bandleader Lawrence Welk. NASCAR is still awaiting a future driving ace from North Dakota. • Complete story, click here North Carolina From the Blue Ridge to the beaches near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina is also the birthplace of two of the sport's greatest names. • Complete story, click here New York Three Bodine brothers headline the long list of NASCAR drivers from the Empire State, but only one has claimed victory at New York's road course, Watkins Glen. • Complete story, click here New Mexico New Mexico's famous racing family is well-known for its success at Indianapolis -- but the Unser family performed well in NASCAR, too. • Complete story, click here New Jersey New Jersey's Martin Truex Jr. hopes to find the sweet smell of Cup success, but he has a ways to go to match the racing career of Garden State native Frankie Schneider. • Complete story, click here New Hampshire The Cup Series makes two trips a year to New Hampshire, home state of Buddy Shuman Award winner Ernie Gahan, who aided in the rescue of Marvin Panch. • Complete story, click here Nevada People have been striking it rich in Nevada for years -- first in the mines, then at the casinos. Our countdown to Daytona continues with the Silver State's racing brothers. • Complete story, click here Nebraska Corn and cattle take command as our countdown to Daytona continues with Nebraska, where an Omaha native conquered Atlanta's superspeedway in 1961. • Complete story, click here Montana Less than a million people live in Montana -- but one of them can claim a NASCAR victory. Our countdown to Daytona continues with a look at Big Sky country. • Complete story, click here Missouri When it comes to Missouri and NASCAR, a racing family from St. Louis, particularly the driver nicknamed for his red hair, have shown everyone what it takes to be a legend. • Complete story, click here Mississippi Cotton and music have been king in Mississippi, but the King was from there, too. Despite no series stops in the state, it's home to one of the greatest NASCAR names ever. • Complete story, click here Minnesota Native Joe Frasson never won a race in 10 years on the Cup circuit, but the driver known as "that other car" had a helping hand in determining the winner of the 1976 Daytona 500. • Complete story, click here Michigan Where else can you get a pasty from Houghton or pierogi from Hamtramck, a Mackinaw from Mackinac, or fried chicken from Frankenmuth and wash it down with a cold Vernors? However, Michigan is first and foremost about automobiles -- and NASCAR's been a part of that from the start. • Complete story, click here Massachusetts Edgar Allen Poe's raven, Dr. Seuss' grinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter are all products of Massachusetts ingenuity. One of NASCAR's most inventive and successful car builders came from that same stock. • Complete story, click here Maryland Maryland has a prestigious place in NASCAR lore. It also has a place in the front. That's where native Elmo Langley made driving the pace car a time-honored tradition. • Complete story, click here Maine One can only wonder how Ricky Craven's Cup career would've turned out if not for that wreck in Texas. Maine's past can be tied to such legends as Richard Petty and Bobby Allison. • Complete story, click here Louisiana From the French Quarter to the Bayou Bengals, the Cajuns have plenty of connections to France. A tie to NASCAR, however, is mostly carried by one man. • Complete story, click here Kentucky Kentucky loves its horsepower, whether it's the call to post at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Lexington's Keeneland or Turfway Park just south of Cincinnati -- or the motorized kind at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. • Complete story, click here Kansas Kansas is at the center of NASCAR's top series, as title sponsor Sprint Nextel is headquartered in the Sunflower State. And Kansas Speedway has been a yearly stop for all three series since 2001. • Complete story, click here Iowa NASCAR made the trip to Iowa in 1953 -- and with the new Iowa Speedway in Newton nearly completed, who knows if it may return in the future. • Complete story, click here Indiana Even though NASCAR has been visiting the Hoosier State only since 1994, its roots in Indiana go back more than five decades. • Complete story, click here Illinois Daytona may be the birthplace of speed and Indianapolis the greatest spectacle in racing, but Illinois can claim its place as the location of the first automobile race between gasoline-powered vehicles in the United States. Frank Duryea averaged 7.3 mph to win $2,000 over five other contestants in a race from Chicago to Evanston in November of 1895. • Complete story, click here Idaho While Idaho doesn't have a long history of NASCAR racing, there are a few interesting stories out there. • Complete story, click here Georgia Georgia played a big part in NASCAR's success, right from the start. Dawson County native Raymond Parks and Atlanta garage owner Louis "Red" Vogt had prominent roles in the formation of Bill France's new sanctioning body. • Complete story, click here Florida Fireball Roberts was the state's best, despite only running more than half the schedule twice. On the schedule, Homestead-Miami wraps up the season, but it's Daytona that headlines the state's NASCAR heritage, dating back to the days of racing on the beach. • Complete story, click here Delaware The First State is No. 1 for a number of reasons, including its long relationship with stock-car racing. Delaware may be 49th in the nation when it comes to square miles but it's a monster when it comes to chemical manufacturing, banking and concrete mile ovals. • Complete story, click here Connecticut Jerry Nadeau was beginning to make his niche on the Cup circuit when a crash left him in a coma and ended his racing career. The state has produced two Busch Series champions: current NASCAR driver Randy LaJoie (twice) and the late Rob Moroso. • Complete story, click here Colorado Wally Dallenbach Jr. may be the most identifiable driver from the Rockies, but racer John Rostek etched his name in the books with a win and two top-fives in just six career races. • Complete story, click here California California has always had a car culture -- think of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean -- and Jerry Jeff Walker wished he could just get off of that L.A. freeway. So it's no wonder that NASCAR and the Golden State go together like drive-in carhops and roller skates. • Complete story, click here Arkansas Five NASCAR races have been held in Arkansas, but its biggest claim to racing fame comes from a diminutive Batesville boy named Mark Martin. • Complete story, click here Arizona Phoenix International Raceway has been hosting Cup races since 1988, but NASCAR's history in Arizona goes all the way back to 1951, when Marshall Teague drove a Hudson to victory at the one-mile dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. • Complete story, click here Alabama When it comes to stock-car racing history, the two most important places in Alabama are Hueytown and Talladega. The first was the home of the legendary "Alabama Gang"; the second, the location of the biggest, baddest track on the Nextel Cup circuit. • Complete story, click here | 
