You probably already know the hometown of your favorite driver. Why wouldn’t you? You know everything about them, especially in the age of social media. Looking up a home state is a cakewalk.
But every driver? That’s a lot of information to digest and remember. And where is the highest concentration of NASCAR drivers in the country? Which state boasts the most?
You’d probably expect a southern state – and you’re wrong in assuming such a thing. After all, NASCAR’s roots are in the South, and many of its states indeed possess a high number of drivers. Try four of the top five.
But not the most populous. That distinction goes to what’s also the state with the most people within its borders as a whole: California.
Yes, across all three NASCAR national series – the Sprint Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck series – the state out west is the best in the business right now, at a whopping 20 drivers. Of those, 12 have attempted at least Cup race in 2015, a number that includes Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson and AJ Allmendinger.
The next best is rather easy to guess. It’s North Carolina, NASCAR’s home base of operations. In all, 14 drivers who have attempted a NASCAR national series race in 2015 claim their hometown there, a chunk of them the offspring of former competitors – think John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Blaney, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeffrey Earnhardt, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Cody Ware.
From there, Georgia, Virginia and Florida are populous states when it comes to NASCAR drivers.
On the other hand? Idaho only boasts one (Brian Scott), as does Oklahoma (Tanner Berryhill), West Virginia (Cale Conley), Maine (Austin Theriault), New Jersey (Martin Truex Jr.) and Oregon (Mike Bliss).
Six come from outside the U.S. completely: three from Mexico (Enrique Contreras, Carlos Contreras and Daniel Suarez) and the same from Canada (Derek White, Cameron Hayley and Mario Gosselin).
And finally, Montana, South and North Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington, D.C., boast no drivers in 2015.
What’s the full rundown? See below – and keep checking back throughout the year; let’s add drivers as they crop up, just in case the data changes.
Alabama
Mike Harmon
Darrell Wallace Jr.
Arizona
Chad Boat
Alex Bowman
Michael McDowell
JJ Yeley
California
AJ Allmendinger
Stanton Barrett
Matt Crafton
Cole Custer
Matt DiBenedetto
David Gilliland
Kevin Harvick
Ron Hornaday Jr.
Jimmie Johnson
Kyle Larson
Dylan Lupton
Justin Marks
Casey Mears
Josh Reaume
Tyler Reddick
Ryan Reed
Tommy Regan
Boris Said
Cole Whitt
Josh Wise
Connecticut
Charles Lewandoski
Joey Logano
Florida
Aric Almirola
Ray Black, Jr.
Ross Chastain
Chris Fontaine
Ben Kennedy
Blake Koch
Scott Lagasse Jr.
Johanna Long
BJ McLeod
Joe Nemechek
Bryan Silas
Georgia
Wendell Chavous
Chris Cockrum
Chase Elliott
Korbin Forrister
Kyle Fowler
Austin Hill
Brandon Jones
David Ragan
Reed Sorenson
Ryan Sieg
Garrett Smithley
Mark Thompson
John Wes Townley
Idaho
Brian Scott
Illinois
Mike Affarano
Justin Allgaier
Jake Griffin
Danica Patrick
Indiana
Dakoda Armstrong
Jeff Gordon (via California)
Ryan Newman
Tony Stewart
Iowa
Michael Annett
Landon Cassill
Joey Gase
Brett Moffitt
Kansas
Clint Bowyer
Jennifer Jo Cobb
Kentucky
Jeff Green
Ben Rhodes
Michael Waltrip
Maine
Austin Theriault
Maryland
Justin Boston
Timmy Hill
Donnie Neuenberger
Michigan
Erik Jones
Brad Keselowski
Mississippi
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Missouri
Carl Edwards
Justin Jennings
Jamie McMurray
Kenny Wallace
Mike Wallace
Nevada
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
Spencer Gallagher
Brendan Gaughan
New Jersey
Martin Truex Jr.
New Mexico
Jamie Dick
Alex Kennedy
New York
Todd Bodine
Regan Smith
North Carolina
Ryan Blaney
Charles Buchanan Jr.
Austin Dillon
Ty Dillon
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Daniel Hemric
Carl Long
John Hunter Nemechek
Timothy Peters
Harrison Rhodes
Morgan Shepherd
Brian Vickers
Cody Ware
Ohio
Sam Hornish Jr.
Matt Tifft
Jimmy Weller
Oklahoma
Tanner Berryhill
Oregon
Mike Bliss
Pennysylvania
Norm Benning
Bobby Gerhart
Benny Gordon
Todd Peck
South Carolina
Jordan Anderson
Jeremy Clements
Tennessee
Trevor Bayne
Clay Greenfield
Mason Mingus
Texas
Chris Buescher
James Buescher
Terry Labonte
Brennan Poole
David Starr
Tyler Young
Virginia
Brandon Brown
Jeb Burton
Ryan Ellis
Gray Gaulding
Brandon Gdovic
Denny Hamlin
Caleb Holman
Eric McClure
Caleb Roark
Elliott Sadler
Peyton Sellers
Washington
Greg Biffle
Derrike Cope
Kasey Kahne
Tyler Tanner
West Virginia
Cale Conley
Wisconsin
Dexter Bean
Paige Decker
Matt Kenseth
Travis Kvapil
Paul Menard
Johnny Sauter
Outside U.S.
Carlos Contreras (Mexico)
Enrique Contreras (Mexico)
Mario Gosselin (Canada)
Cameron Hayley (Canada)
Daniel Suarez (Mexico)
Derek White (Canada)
About the author
Rutherford is the managing editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2015 after serving on the editing staff for two years. At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.
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Umn Ricky Stenhouse Jr is from Mississippi not Missouri.
Umn Ricky Stenhouse Jr is from Mississippi not Missouri. Yea Please change this.
Jeff Gordon is from Valejo, CA for first 13 years, only 3 in Indy.
Jeff Gordon was born and raised in Vallejo, California. His family moved him to Indiana age 14 only after he was prevented from racing a winged 410 sprint car at King’s Speedway in Hanford, CA.