Casey Atwood

Casey Lee Atwood (born August 25, 1980 in Antioch, Tennessee)^[1]^[2] is an American former stock car racing driver. A former competitor in NASCAR competition, he is the youngest pole winner in Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) history, earning a pole start at the age of 17.^[3]

Atwood had his most success in the Busch Series in 1999 and 2000, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet for Brewco Motorsports. Atwood became the youngest winner in series history in 1999 at 7008595080000000000♠18 years, 313 days (the record would later be broken in 2008 by Joey Logano at 7008569851200000000♠18 years, 21 days old).^[3]^[4]^[5] Atwood's performance led many to label him as "the next Jeff Gordon," and landed him a factory-backed Dodge ride in the Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) with Evernham Motorsports for 2001. His struggles at the Cup level over two seasons, however, derailed his career, with his last Cup start coming in 2003 at the young age of 22.^[3] After spending parts of seven seasons back in the Busch Series, Atwood's national series career ended in 2009.

Early life

Growing up in Antioch, Tennessee outside of Nashville,^[1] Atwood became interested in racing at a young age. By the age of ten, Atwood was racing go-karts. He later progressed to Late Model Stock racing by the age of 15. He was the 1996 rookie of the year at Nashville Speedway USA.^[4]^[6] Casey attended John Overton High School in Nashville until he dropped out in 1999 to pursue his racing career.

NASCAR career

Busch Series

Atwood debuted in the NASCAR Busch Series in 1998 at North Carolina Speedway with a modest 21st-place finish,^[7] but stunned the racing world upon his next attempt. At his home track Nashville Speedway in March, the 17-year-old Atwood qualified on the pole position, making him the youngest pole winner in NASCAR history.^[3] A brilliant performance would follow, as Atwood led 104 laps and ultimately brought his No. 28 Red Line Oil Chevrolet home in 2nd place to Mike McLaughlin.^[7] Atwood made sporadic starts over the course of the year, none equal to his second race, but after moving from Larry Lockamy's part-time team to Hensley Racing in September, the driver had strong showings at Atlanta (where he started 36th but made his way to the front) and Homestead (where he claimed his second pole). By the end of 1998 he had won two poles and 5 top 20's in 13 races.^[1]

In 1999, he joined the Brewco Motorsports No. 27 Castrol GTX Chevrolet team for his first full season in the NASCAR Busch Series.^[1] Atwood flipped during the first race of the season at Daytona International Speedway, after he was tapped by Andy Hillenburg coming to the white flag.^[8] Atwood became the youngest winner in Busch Series History when he won at the Milwaukee Mile at the age of 18 on July 4, 1999, which would stand until Joey Logano bested Atwood's mark by winning the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway on June 14, 2008 at the age of 18 years and 21 days.^[3] Atwood won another race at Dover in September and scored two pole starts. He finished 1999 with two wins, five top 5's and nine top 10's. He finished 13th in points. 2000 proved to be another good year for Atwood, as he managed to have two poles and 8 top 10's, finishing 8th in points.^[3]

Winston Cup

Atwood in 2003

In 2000, Atwood made his Winston Cup debut in a No. 19 Motorola Ford for Ray Evernham at Richmond International Raceway.^[9] He started 35th and finished 19th, two laps down. He made two more starts that year and earned his first top 10, a 10th at Homestead. Atwood moved up to NASCAR Winston Cup full-time in 2001 in the No. 19 Dodge Dealers car for Evernham's team Evernham Motorsports, a newly formed team under the Dodge banner, to compete for Rookie of the Year honors. Atwood was the youngest driver in the series in 2001.^[6]^[10]^[11] He was nicknamed the "Next Jeff Gordon," due to Gordon's similar rise from Busch to Cup at a young age,^[4] and was teammate to former Cup Champion, Bill Elliott. Atwood struggled through the year, but improved as the season went on, winning the pole at Phoenix and was in contention to win the race, while leading the race a flat tire slowed his day as he was only able to make it back to 14th place by the end of the race.^[4] A week later at the season finale at Homestead, he was leading with five laps to go, but was passed by Elliott and Michael Waltrip. Atwood would place third, his career-best Cup finish.^[4] Atwood also finished third in the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year standings (behind future Cup champions Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch),^[12] and 26th in Cup standings.

In 2002, with the signing of Jeremy Mayfield to drive the No. 19, Atwood moved from Evernham's team to the No. 7 of Ultra Motorsports as part of an alliance between Evernham and Ultra owner Jim Smith, where Smith's team would switch from Ford to Dodge and receive equipment and engines from Evernham. The team was known as Ultra-Evernham Motorsports, and sponsored by Sirius Satellite Radio.^[4]^[13]^[14]^[15] Atwood struggled throughout the year, having no top 10's, and just one top-10 qualifying effort and finishing 35th in points.^[4] With two races left in the season, he was fired by Jim Smith (which also brought an abrupt end to the Ultra/Evernham partnership) and was replaced by Jason Leffler for the rest of 2002, and later Jimmy Spencer in 2003.^[16]^[17] Atwood ran the last race of the year in Evernham's No. 91 Dodge and qualified 12th, but finished poorly.^[6]^[16] Also during 2002, Atwood drove an Evernham ARCA car bearing his former No. 19 at Pocono and dominated, winning the race from the pole.^[18]

In 2003, he drove Evernham's No. 91 research and development car for two races. At Pocono Raceway with sponsorship from Mountain Dew LiveWire, Atwood finished 40th after engine troubles. He also ran in the Brickyard 400 without sponsorship, but was only able to muster a 31st-place finish.^[18]^[19] Atwood's most recent appearance in the series was a failed qualifying attempt in the No. 95 car for the 2006 Ford 400 at Homestead. He was driving a Brewco-prepared Scott Towels/Kleenex Ford for Stanton Barrett.^[20]^[21]

Return to Busch/Nationwide

2004 Busch Series car at Lowe's Motor Speedway (now Charlotte Motor Speedway)

After his release from Evernham Motorsports in the Cup Series, Atwood was expected to return to Brewco's 27 (recently vacated by Jamie McMurray),^[6]^[16] but the ride instead went to Chase Montgomery and Joey Clanton. Beginning at Kentucky in June 2003, Atwood drove the No. 14 Navy Chevrolet for FitzBradshaw Racing, a second car for the team. Atwood also ran three races in the team's third No. 82 Chevy. Atwood returned to the No. 14 full-time for FitzBradshaw in 2004. Atwood scored seven top ten finishes, but was inconsistent outside of those races. He nearly won at Richmond in September, leading 83 laps, but was tapped by Martin Truex Jr. with less than ten laps to go, allowing Robby Gordon to win. Atwood would finish second in the race. Atwood was diagnosed by owner Armando Fitz of having "a lack of confidence and no aggression on the race track", proceeding to hire a psychologist for the driver. Atwood was released from the team with five races remaining in the season, replaced by Chip Ganassi Racing development driver David Stremme (Fitz was the son-in-law of CGR co-owner Felix Sabates).^[3]^[22]^[23] Atwood was 13th in points at the time, and he fell back to 19th by the end of the season. In 2005 he drove four races for Evernham Motorsports in the No. 6 Unilever Dodge.

2009 Nationwide car at Milwaukee

In early to mid-2006, Atwood practiced and qualified the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for J. J. Yeley in select races, due to conflicts with Yeley's Nextel Cup Series schedule. Atwood would also occupy this role in 2009 for Kyle Busch. Atwood would later say that these cars, prepared by former Brewco mechanic Jason Ratcliff, were the best he'd ever driven.^[4]^[24] Beginning at Richmond in September, he returned to the No. 27 car for Brewco Motorsports for the rest of 2006. Atwood was replaced by Ward Burton in the No. 27 car at Brewco for 2007. After a year away from the sport, he returned to Brewco (then known as Baker-Curb Racing) to pilot the 27 car in 2008.^[3] In 2009, Atwood qualified for 20 races in the No. 05 car for Wayne Day, and finished 44th in points. At Phoenix, he was involved in a grinding crash in which he took 3 separate hits. Atwood sustained minor injuries, and has not raced since (His injuries did not bring about the end of his career).

Craftsman Truck Series

Atwood first appeared on the NASCAR scene in 1996, at the age of 16, in a Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Speedway USA. He finished 32nd in the No. 48 STP Chevrolet. In 2005, Atwood was picked up by Bobby Hamilton Racing to drive the first three races of the Craftsman Truck Series season in the No. 4 Bailey's Cigarettes Dodge. Atwood ran well during the three race stint, but scored no top tens.

Post-NASCAR career

After three years away from racing, Atwood returned to competition in 2012, competing in late model competition at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in a car owned by Sterling Marlin.^[4]^[24]

Personal life

Atwood posing with a young fan at Dover in 2004, courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Atwood currently resides in Nashville. He married his longtime girlfriend, Laura, in 2005. They have two daughters together.^[4]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nextel Cup Series

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NNCC	Pts
2000	Evernham Motorsports	19	Ford	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	MCH	POC	SON	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 19	NHA	DOV	MAR 25	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	HOM 10	ATL			54th	328
2001	Evernham Motorsports	19	Dodge	DAY 20	CAR 18	LVS 24	ATL DNQ	DAR 26	BRI 20	TEX 36	MAR 26	TAL 30	CAL 39	RCH 12	CLT 42	DOV 29	MCH 30	POC 38	SON 41	DAY 28	CHI 28	NHA 12	POC 15	IND 41	GLN 22	MCH 10	BRI 17	DAR 25	RCH 27	DOV 9	KAN 43	CLT 24	MAR 25	TAL 39	PHO 14	CAR 20	HOM 3	ATL 20	NHA 16	26th	3132
2002	Ultra-Evernham Motorsports	7		DAY 35	CAR 39	LVS 41	ATL 32	DAR 26	BRI 18	TEX 35	MAR 38	TAL 26	CAL 28	RCH 22	CLT 17	DOV 14	POC 11	MCH 39	SON 21	DAY 20	CHI 28	NHA 36	POC 28	IND 38	GLN 27	MCH 42	BRI 18	DAR 28	RCH 24	NHA 34	DOV 32	KAN 42	TAL 34	CLT 30	MAR 21	ATL 38	CAR 29	PHO		35th	2621
2002	Evernham Motorsports	91																																					HOM 37	35th	2621
2003	Evernham Motorsports	91		DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	MAR	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC 40	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND 31	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	TAL	KAN	CLT	MAR	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	61st	113
2006	Brewco Motorsports	95	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM DNQ	NA	-

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2001	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	21	20
2002	Ultra-Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	36	35

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	142	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts
1998	Lockamy Racing	28	Chevy	DAY	CAR 21	LVS	NSV 2	DAR	BRI 40	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA 21	NZH	CLT	DOV	RCH 13	PPR	GLN	MLW 24																			38th	1359
	Brewco Motorsports	27	Chevy																		MYB 28	CAL	SBO DNQ	IRP	MCH DNQ	BRI	DAR
	Washington-Irving Racing	50	Ford																									RCH DNQ
	Hensley Motorsports	63	Chevy																										DOV 24	CLT 16	GTY 30	CAR 17	ATL 11	HOM 14
1999	Brewco Motorsports	27	Chevy	DAY 17	CAR 5	LVS DNQ	ATL 16	DAR 28	TEX 35	NSV 2	BRI 15	TAL 8	CAL 18	NHA 5	RCH 20	NZH 33	CLT 34	DOV 36	SBO 10	GLN 41	MLW 1*	MYB 29	PPR 8	GTY 7	IRP 32	MCH 42	BRI 15	DAR 26	RCH 31	DOV 1	CLT 23	CAR 43	MEM 30	PHO 26	HOM 34				13th	3134
2000	Brewco Motorsports	27	Chevy	DAY 31	CAR 32	LVS 11	ATL 26	DAR 42	BRI 21	TEX 7	NSV 24	TAL 17	CAL 22	RCH 8	NHA 7	CLT 14	DOV 11	SBO 13	MYB 11	GLN 12	MLW 43	NZH 7	PPR 6	GTY 29	IRP 31	MCH 37	BRI 9	DAR 27	RCH 34	DOV 17	CLT 22	CAR 8	MEM 6	PHO 14	HOM 20				8th	3404
2003	FitzBradshaw Racing	82	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT DNQ	DOV	NSH				CHI 21												ATL 28					37th	1422
2003		14																	KEN 9	MLW 19	DAY 27		NHA 32	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI 18	DAR 10	RCH 11	DOV 25	KAN	CLT 32	MEM 7		PHO 8	CAR	HOM 43		37th	1422
2004		14		DAY 15	CAR 19	LVS 36	DAR 9	BRI 34	TEX 21	NSH 20	TAL 13	CAL 29	GTY 23	RCH 14	NZH 6	CLT 17	DOV 18	NSH 7	KEN 22	MLW 32	DAY 24	CHI 13	NHA 31	PPR 9	IRP 8	MCH 25	BRI 10	CAL 26	RCH 2	DOV 24	KAN 22	CLT 20	MEM	ATL	PHO	DAR	HOM		19th	3130
2005	Evernham Motorsports	6	Dodge	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN 9	MLW	DAY	CHI 21	NHA 26	PPR 26	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	76th	408
2006	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Chevy	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW QL^†	DAY	CHI	NHA	MAR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL									52nd	814
2006	Brewco Motorsports	27	Ford																												RCH 23	DOV 29	KAN 17	CLT 17	MEM 17	TEX 18	PHO 23	HOM 21	52nd	814
2007		37		DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV QL^‡	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV 14				TEX 26	PHO	HOM	80th	412
		27																															KAN 18	CLT 22
	Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Chevy																																MEM QL^†
2008	Day Enterprises	05	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	MXC	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY 33	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI 40	CAL								HOM DNQ	93rd	201
2008	Curb Racing	27	Ford																												RCH 23	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO		93rd	201
2009	Day Enterprises	85	Chevy	DAY	CAL 40																															TEX DNQ	PHO 41	HOM	44th	1178
		05	Ford			LVS 35		TEX 27		PHO 31	TAL										CHI 37			IOW 35	GLN	MCH DNQ			ATL 38
		05	Chevy				BRI 25		NSH 22			RCH 25	DAR 43	CLT DNQ	DOV 43	NSH 40	KEN	MLW 25	NHA 40	DAY		GTY 34	IRP				BRI 41	CGV		RCH DNQ	DOV 36	KAN 36	CAL DNQ	CLT DNQ
	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota																																MEM QL^±
^† - Qualified for J. J. Yeley · ^‡ - Qualified for Greg Biffle · ^± - Qualified for Kyle Busch

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCTC	Pts
1996	Chuck Spicer Racing	48	Chevy	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	TUS	CNS	HPT	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	I70	IRP	FLM	GLN	NSV 32	RCH	NHA	MAR	NWS	SON	MMR	PHO	LVS		123rd	60
2005	Bobby Hamilton Racing	4	Dodge	DAY 14	CAL 11	ATL 22	MAR	GTY	MFD	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	LVS	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	52nd	348

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	ARSC	Pts
2002	Evernham Motorsports	19	Dodge	DAY	ATL	NSH	SLM	KEN	CLT	KAN	POC	MCH	TOL	SBO	KEN	BLN	POC 1*	NSH	ISF	WIN	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	CLT	100th	260
2004	FitzBradshaw Racing	14	Chevy	DAY	NSH 2	SLM	KEN	TOL	CLT	KAN	POC	MCH	SBO	BLN	KEN	GTW	POC	LER	NSH	ISF	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	98th	245

* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

1 2 3 4 "BUSCH: Casey Atwood Gets Primary Sponsor". motorsport.com. Central City, Kentucky: NASCAR. January 7, 1999. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
↑ Casey Atwood Career Statistics
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sporting News Wire Service (July 19, 2008). "Logano driving Nationwide 20, but hoping for Cup 20". nascar.com. Madison, Illinois: NASCAR. Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smith, Marty (May 15, 2014). "Hindsight haunts Casey Atwood". espn.go.com. ESPN. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ Logano makes history as youngest Nationwide Series winner
1 2 3 4 "Atwood, Evernham part ways". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. November 23, 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
1 2 Akers, Shawn A. (March 15, 1998). "BUSCH: Casey Atwood Nashville Review". motorsport.com. Nashville, Tennessee: NASCAR. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
↑ "BUSCH: Daytona Race left Many Cars to be Repaired". motorsport.com. Daytona Beach, Florida: NASCAR. February 13, 1999. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
↑ "Evernham returns to Richmond". motorsport.com. Richmond, Virginia: motorsport.com. September 6, 2000. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
↑ Shapiro, Mark (July 13, 2001). "The field of hopefuls". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
↑ "Casey Atwood picked for second Dodge team". motorsport.com. Concord, North Carolina: motorsport.com, NASCAR. May 25, 2000. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
↑ NASCAR (November 29, 2001). "Kevin Harvick named Rookie of the Year". Motorsport.com. Daytona Beach, Florida. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
↑ "Evernham Motorsports and Ultra Motorsports form partnership" Check |url= value (help). motorsport.com. Atlanta, Georgia: motorsport.com. November 16, 2001. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
↑ Dodge Motorsports (January 7, 2002). "Dodge Evernham, Ultra team on 2002 season". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
↑ Ultra Motorsports (January 7, 2002). "Sirius named sponsor of Atwood's Winston Cup". motorsport.com. Las Vegas: motorsport.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
1 2 3 "BUSCH: Atwood out at Evernham, may return to Busch". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. December 4, 2002. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
↑ Evernham Motorsports (November 8, 2002). "Ultra/Evernham Motorsports dissolves partnership". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
1 2 "Evernham Motorsports No. 91 sponsor for Pocono". motorsport.com. Purchase, New York: motorsport.com. May 2, 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ "Indianapolis: Jeremy Mayfield preview". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. July 30, 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ Spencer, Reid (August 24, 2014). "Joey Logano defied the odds with career renaissance at Penske". motorsport.com. motorsport.com, NASCAR. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ Dahlstrom, Kurt (November 17, 2006). "Casey Atwood". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ Glick, Shav (September 3, 2005). "Driven to Be Diverse: Team owner Fitz is trying to lead the Latino charge in NASCAR". latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
↑ "BUSCH: Stremme to pilot No. 14 in remaining races". motorsport.com. Mooresville, North Carolina: motorsport.com. October 26, 2004. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
1 2 Woody, Larry (April 13, 2012). "Atwood Gets Back On Track". Racin' Today. Retrieved 2012-04-13.

External links

Casey Atwood driver statistics at Racing-Reference

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