Countdown: Tennessee

From the Blue Ridge mountains to the Mississippi, the Volunteer State was explored by the likes of Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett, was home to the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Manhattan Project, and birthplace to some of music's greatest talents. The last state to secede from the Union, Tennessee was the first readmitted five years later.

ARCHIVE •   Countdown to Daytona

Home to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville loves it when the band blasts "Rocky Top", while Nashville -- better known as "Music City, U.S.A." -- and home to the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, has been churning out country hits for more than fifty years.

A little farther down I-40, Memphis prides itself on being the birthplace of the Blues and Rock and Roll, Elvis, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded on Sun, while Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett were the stars on Stax.

Aretha Franklin may be a Motown legend, but she's Memphis-born. A short list of talented Tennessee musicians reads like a Who's Who of the business -- Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, Lester Flatt, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Isaac Hayes, Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Dinah Shore and Tina Turner.

NASCAR's connection to Tennessee stretches from one end of the state -- Bristol -- to the other -- Memphis.

Best behind the wheel

• Darrell Waltrip, Franklin

It's a good thing Darrell Waltrip's career blossomed on pavement, because his dirt debut left a lot to be desired.

Driving a 1936 Chevrolet coupe that he and his father built, Waltrip heavily damaged the car at a local dirt track near their Owensboro, Ky., home. However, Waltrip was smooth and steady on asphalt, especially after becoming comfortable with the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville.

Credit: Mike Powell/Getty Images

Inside the Numbers Darrell Waltrip's Cup career Year Races W T5 T10 1972 5 0 1 3 1973 19 0 1 5 1974 16 0 7 11 1975 28 2 11 14 1976 30 1 10 12 1977 30 6 16 24 1978 30 6 19 20 1979 31 7 19 22 1980 31 5 16 17 1981 31 12 21 25 1982 30 12 17 20 1983 30 6 22 25 1984 30 7 13 20 1985 28 3 18 21 1986 29 3 21 22 1987 29 1 6 16 1988 29 2 10 14 1989 29 6 14 18 1990 23 0 5 12 1991 29 2 5 17 1992 29 3 10 13 1993 30 0 4 10 1994 31 0 4 13 1995 31 0 4 8 1996 31 0 0 2 1997 31 0 4 1 1998 33 0 1 2 1999 27 0 0 0 2000 29 0 0 0 Totals 809 84 276 390

It was there where he honed his short-track skills -- and his penchant for self-promotion. Waltrip's aggressive driving style and his outspokenness earned him a number of detractors, especially among rivals such as the Marlins and Bufords.

Waltrip stepped up to NASCAR's top level in 1972, making his Cup debut with a 38th-place run at Talladega in his own Mercury. He would score three top-10 finishes in his next four races, but didn't make the decision to go full-time until 1975, when he won at Nashville, the first of his 84 victories.

"It was difficult to step to the big leagues and be just another fish in a big pond," Waltrip said in his biography. "So it took some time for me to make up my mind that I needed to get in there, give it 100 percent and make my mark."

Waltrip made his mark with several of NASCAR's top drivers early on. Cale Yarborough dubbed him "Jaws" after Waltrip crashed him out of one race, while D.W. issued a now famous comment about Dale Earnhardt and his team, saying he could say anything about them he wanted, since they "wouldn't be able to read it anyway."

Despite signs in infield motorhomes that said "Anybody But Waltrip," Darrell ignored the boos of the fans and won back-to-back NASCAR championships in 1981 and 1982, winning a total of 24 races over that two-year stretch.

Waltrip added a third championship in 1985 -- and gradually won over the hearts of fans. Two events in 1989 solidifed his place in the hearts of NASCAR fans. First, he won the Daytona 500. Then he was punted by Rusty Wallace in The Winston.

With five 600-mile wins at Charlotte and four at Talladega, Waltrip completed his grand slam of NASCAR's four biggest events with a victory in the 1992 Southern 500 when it began to rain after leader Davey Allison had pitted. It would be Waltrip's last Cup win, leaving him third all-time in career victories, trailing only Richard Petty and David Pearson.

After his final Cup start in 2000, Waltrip made the logical move to the broadcast booth, joining FOX as a race analyst. In addition, he owns a Craftsman Truck team.

Other noteworthy drivers from Tennessee

• Grant Adcox, Chattanooga: Two of his six top-10s came at Talladega, including a fifth in the 1978 Winston 500

• Mike Alexander, Franklin: Scored six top-10s in 1988, including a third at Atlanta

• Herman Beam, Johnson City: Finished fourth in the points in 1959; 57 top-10s in 194 career starts

• George Green, Johnson City: Had 29 top-10 finishes over an eight-year career from 1956-63

• Friday Hassler, Chattanooga: Best finish in 135 starts was runner-up to Richard Petty at Islip in 1971

• Bobby Hamilton, Nashville: 2004 Craftsman Truck champion has four Cup wins, including 2001 at Talladega

• Bobby Hamilton Jr., Nashville: Best of 11th twice in 64 Cup starts dating back to 2000

• Paul Dean Holt, Sweetwater: 10th at Asheville in 1967 was his best in 85 career appearances

TAKE THE CHALLENGE Give the right side of your brain the day off as you juggle a field of NASCAR drivers while staying under a salary cap.  •   To play,  click here For Reese's, it's all about the Cup. Pick the best drivers from each group and walk away with the top prize. Build your point total week after week! Earn great prizes! Are you ready to make the hard choices?  •   To play, click here Streak to the Finish challenges you to guess a top-10 driver in next week's NASCAR race.  •   To play, click here Who do you want to make a superstar? The Superstar Fantasy Cap Challenge gives you that power. Just don't use the same driver twice this year.  •   To play,  click here Play the Ultimate Fantasy League. Draft, trade, add, and drop drivers throughout the season. Dominate your opponents with the best team of drivers you can assemble.  •   To play,  click here

• Joe Lee Johnson, Chattanooga: Scored wins at Nashville in 1959 and the 1960 World 600

Brownie King, Johnson City: Pair of fifths highlighted a 97-race career from 1956-61

• Paul Lewis, Johnson City: Started 27th and finished first at Maryville in 1966

• Coo Coo Marlin, Columbia: A Nashville Speedway legend, his Cup best was fourth in the 1974 and 1977 Daytona 500s

• Sterling Marlin, Columbia: All 10 of two-time Daytona 500 champ's wins have come on tracks of more than a mile in length

• Bill Morton, Church Hill: Scored nine top-10s between 1957 and 1962

• Mike Potter, Johnson City: In 60 starts, best was a 15th at Nashville in 1981

• Jeff Purvis, Clarksville: Highlight of nine-year Cup career was a 12th-place finish in the 1996 Daytona 500

• Connie Saylor, Johnson City: Finished eighth at Atlanta in 1978 in 58 appearances

• David Sisco, Nashville: 31 top-10s in 133-race career, including two thirds at Darlington

• G.C. Spencer, Jonesboro: 55 top-fives, including 14 in 1965 when he was fourth in the final standings

• Brad Teague, Johnson City: Made 44 starts between 1982 and 1994, with a best of 11th at Martinsville

We wish ...

Olympic swimmer Tracy Caulkins had become a NASCAR driver.

In addition to her three gold medals in the 1984 Games, Caulkins, a native of Nashville set five world records over an eight-year career that began in 1978. Like Waltrip, Caulkins worked as a television commentator.

Keeping it on track

• Bristol Motor Speedway

After watching a race at Charlotte in 1960, Larry Carrier and Carl Moore decided they'd like to build something similar in northeast Tennessee. Instead of a 1.5-mile track, the two settled on a half-mile. Work began later that year and took about a year to complete.

The land for the speedway, formerly a dairy farm, cost $600,000 -- which included parking for 12,000 cars. Bristol, with turns banked at 22 degrees, hosted weekly races until Jack Smith -- with Johnny Allen driving in relief -- won the inaugural NASCAR race in 1961.

The track was reshaped in 1969 to a .533-mile oval with 36-degree banking in the turns. The track's surface was switched to concrete in 1992. In 1996, Carrier sold the speedway to Bruton Smith for $26 million. Seating capacity now exceeds 160,000, making it the biggest stadium in the state of Tennessee.

• Memphis Motorsports Park

Ed Gatlin and a group of investors purchased a 400-acre tract of land in northeast Tennessee, with the idea of building a road course, dirt track and drag strip on the property. In 1997, a .75-mile paved tri-oval was added on the site of the dirt track -- and the Craftsman Truck Series visited for the first time in 1998, shortly after Dover Downs Entertainment Inc. purchased the facility. The Busch Series held its first race there in 1999.

• Nashville Superspeedway

The 1.33-mile concrete tri-oval opened in 2001 and hosts two Busch Series and one Craftsman Truck Series race each season. Owner Dover Motorsports Inc. claims the fully-lighted track is capable of expanding to more than 150,000 seats.

Gone but not forgotten

• Nashville Speedway, Nashville

Organized racing at the fairgrounds has taken place continuously since 1904, when Barney Oldfield raced on the mile and an eighth horse track. Benny Goodman and two partners were granted a 10-year lease on the old horse track property in 1958 and they built a half-mile high-banked asphalt track there.

Joe Weatherly won the first NASCAR race in 1958 in front of 13,998 fans. The track was lengthened to a .675-mile oval in 1969 with 35-degree banking in the turns. The final Cup event was held in 1984, when Geoff Bodine edged Darrell Waltrip, who holds the all-time record for Fairgrounds wins with 67.

The track, which continues to host NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series racing, was renamed Music City Motorplex in 2003 and is currently owned by Pennsylvania businessman Joe Mattioli.

Other tracks which have hosted NASCAR races

• Boyd Speedway, Chattanooga: Joe Weatherly and David Pearson won the races held on the paved third-mile

• Kingsport Speedway, Kingsport: Paved oval measured at slightly more than a third-mile hosted three races between 1969 and 1971

• Smoky Mountain Raceway, Maryville: The paved half-mile hosted 12 races between 1965 and 1971, which Richard Petty winning six times

• Tennessee-Carolina Speedway, Newport: Fireball Roberts won both races on the dirt half-mile

A word from our sponsor

• AutoZone, Memphis

AutoZone is the nation's leading retailer of automotive parts and accessories with over 3,600 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

In addition, Tennessee is the home of FedEx (Memphis) and CBRL Group (Lebanon).