Countdown: Wyoming

Wyoming is known as the Equality State because women there were the first in the nation to vote, serve on juries and hold public office. Nellie Tayloe Ross was the first woman governor in 1925. With just over 500,000 residents, Wyoming is also the least populous state, of which 10 percent live in the state capital of Cheyenne.

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

From the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone to the west, to the Bighorn Canyon and Devil's Tower to the east, and Flaming Gorge to the south, Wyoming is place of spectacular beauty. It's also dotted with ranches and mile and mile of open highway.

It's no surprise that some of Wyoming's most famous residents were trappers, traders and frontiersmen: James Bridger, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick and John Phillips. Sportscaster Curt Gowdy, a Green River native, filmed much of his "American Sportsman" show in his native state.

NASCAR's connection to Wyoming is mainly through the efforts of Kyle Petty's annual charity event.

Best behind the wheel

In our research, we failed to find a driver in NASCAR's premier series who hailed from Wyoming.

However, Kyle Petty's Chick-fil-A Charity Ride has visited Wyoming on several occasions, including in 2005, when the tour went from West Yellowstone, Mont., to Cody, then continued to Deadwood, S.D.

"We ended up in Cody, Wyo., after traveling over 400 miles today," Petty wrote in his diary. "The city of Cody was named after Buffalo Bill Cody of the Old American West. There is a lot of history throughout this year's ride! As soon as we arrived in Cody, we went to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center which hosted a wonderful dinner where we were able to learn more about the folklore of the area."

The next morning, Petty visited the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains.

"This leg of the ride provided some of the most beautiful scenery that we have been able to ride through this year," Petty wrote. "After another quick fuel stop in Buffalo, we made our way to Sundance. Sundance is between Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore and was made famous by the Old American Outlaw: The Sundance Kid."

We wish ...

Wide receiver Boyd Dowler had become a NASCAR driver.

The Cheyenne native won two Super Bowl rings while leading the Packers in receiving seven times and was the NFL rookie of the year in 1959.

Keeping it on track

NASCAR's premier series has never visited Wyoming. There is one paved quarter-mile in Cheyenne and perhaps another half-dozen clay and dirt tracks scattered around the state.

A word from our sponsor

• Georgia-Pacific, Lovell

Georgia-Pacific, one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of tissue, packaging, paper, building products and related chemicals, operates a gypsum plant in Lovell, in northern Wyoming.