Casey Atwood

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Casey Lee Atwood


Birthdate = birth date and age|1980|8|25
Birthplace = Nashville, Tennessee
Best_Cup_Pos = 26th - 2001 (Winston Cup)
Cup_Top_Tens = 4
Cup_Poles = 1
First_Cup_Race = 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 (Richmond)
Last_Cup_Race = 2003 Brickyard 400 (Indianapolis)
Busch_Car_Team = #27 - Brewco Motorsports
Prev_Busch_Year = 2006
Prev_Busch_Pos = 52nd | Best_Busch_Pos = 8th - 2000
Busch_Wins = 2
Busch_Top_Tens = 30
Busch_Poles = 6
First_Busch_Race = 1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus 200 (Rockingham)
First_Busch_Win = 1999 DieHard 250 (Milwaukee Mile)
Last_Busch_Win = 1999 MBNA Gold 200 (Dover)
Best_Truck_Pos = 52nd - 2005
First_Truck_Race = 1996 Federated Auto Parts 250 (Nashville Speedway)
Last_Truck_Race = 2005 World Financial Group 200 (Atlanta)
Updated_On = February 22, 2007

Casey Lee Atwood (born August 25, 1980 in Nashville, Tennessee), is an American racecar driver. He began racing in NASCAR as a teenager in the Busch Series with Brewco Motorsports in the #27 Castrol Chevrolet. Atwood then moved to the a Nextel Cup Series with Evernham Motorsports #19 car. He later returned to the Busch Series with FitzBradshaw Racing, and drove briefly in the Craftsman Truck Series. Atwood is currently a free agent in NASCAR. He married his longtime girlfriend, Laura, in 2005. Atwood and Laura had a child named Kaylee in September 2005.

Career before NASCAR

At a young age, he became interested in racing. By the age of ten, Atwood was racing go-karts. His early passion for racing later progressed to Late Model Stock racing by the age of 15. He was the 1996 rookie of the year at Nashville Speedway USA.

NASCAR career

Busch Series

In 1999, he joined the Brewco Motorsports #27 Castrol GTX Chevy team for his first full season in the NASCAR Busch Series. He 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. Casey won another race at Dover in September and acquired two poles. 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 him, as he managed to have two poles and 8 top 10's, finishing 8th in points. In 2003 and he drove the #14 Navy Chevy for FitzBradshaw Racing. 2004 was a mediocre year for Atwood. He ran full-time for FitzBradshaw Racing. He had problems, but he still had seven top 10's. He nearly won at Richmond but got tapped by Martin Truex Jr. with less than ten laps to go, allowing Robby Gordon to win. Atwood was diagnosed by Fitz of having "a lack of confidence and no aggression on the race track". Fitz hired Flip Flippen to be Atwood's psychologist. Atwood was fired by Armando Fitz and Terry Bradshaw with five races remaining in the season. Atwood was 13th in points at the time, and he fell back to 19th. In 2005 he drove a few races for Evernham Motorsports in the #6 Hellmanns Mayonnaise Dodge. In early to mid 2006, Atwood practiced and qualified the #18 Busch Series car for J. J. Yeley and Joe Gibbs Racing in select races. Beginning at Richmond in September, he drove the #27 car for Brewco Motorsports once again, for the rest of 2006. Atwood was replaced by Ward Burton in the #27 car at Brewco Motorsports. After a year away from the sport, he returned to Brewco to pilot the 27 car again.

Winston Cup

He moved up to NASCAR Winston Cup in 2001 in the #19 Dodge Dealers car under Evernham Motorsports, which was a newly formed team under the Dodge banner. He was nicknamed the "Next Jeff Gordon" 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. A week later at Homstead, FL he was leading with five laps to go, but was passed by Elliott and Michael Waltrip, to place third, his best Cup finish. Atwood also finished third in the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year standings (behind Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch), and 26th in Cup standings.

In 2002, he moved from Evernham's team to the #7 Ultra Motorsports Sirius Satellite Radio-sponsored car as part of an agreement with Evernham and Ultra owner Jim Smith, where Smith's team would switch from Ford to Dodge, receive equipment and engines from Evernham, and change their name to Ultra-Evernham Motorsports. Atwood struggled through the year, having no top 10's, and finishing 35th in points. 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, and later, Jimmy Spencer. Atwood ran the last race of the year in Evernham's #91 Dodge and qualified 12th, but finished poorly. Also during 2002, Atwood drove an Evernham ARCA car at Pocono and dominated, winning the race.

In 2003 he drove Evernham's research and development mule for two races: at Pocono for sponsor Mountain Dew Live Wire Dodge and ran decently until having engine problems, and unsponsored at the Brickyard 400, again finishing poorly.

Craftsman Truck Series

He first appeared on the NASCAR scene in 1996 during a Craftsman Truck Series race, at the age of 16. He would not reappear until 1998, when he raced in the NASCAR Busch Series. He became the youngest driver ever to win a Busch Series pole, taking pole position at Nashville Speedway USA. He went on to finish second in what was only his second Busch Series race. By the end of 1998 he had won two poles and 5 top 20's in 11 races. In 1999, he was again notable, at eighteen becoming, at the time, the youngest driver to win a Busch series event when he won at Milwaukee (Joey Logano became the youngest driver to win when he won at Kentucky in 2008). By 2005, Atwood had no ride. He was picked up by Bobby Hamilton (whom some consider to be like a father to Atwood) to drive the first three races of the Craftsman Truck Series season in the #4 Bailey's Dodge. Atwood ran well during the three race stint. Afterward, he was again without a ride. He would be picked up by a past owner, Ray Evernham, to drive the Hungry Driver's Dodge in four races. The four races would be eventful for Atwood as he ran well and gained one top 10.

Controversy

Many of Atwood's fans believe that it was unjust for Evernham to put Atwood into the #7 in 2002 after running very competitively at the end of 2001. They believe that the #7 ruined Atwood's career. They say that the #7 Ultra Motorsports team never performed well since its existence, and Atwood did the best he could with the equipment he had. They also compare Mayfield's first season in the #19 with that of Atwood's, where they both finished 26th in the points. Fans say that Atwood did not get enough time with the #19 team, and if he did, he would have won races and performed well.

Fans also believe that Armando Fitz and Terry Bradshaw had no good reason to fire Atwood when he was in the #14. Fans were angry at Fitz when he said his reason for firing Atwood was that he was not performing, while he was 13th in points, but his teammate Tim Fedewa was 17th in points. Fans also criticize Fitz because Fedewa had more than five crew chiefs in 2004, while Atwood only got one, Jay Guy before he was released. Most fans say Fitz fired Atwood because of money, pay checks, and Dodge (who later became the new car type of Fitz-Bradshaw Racing). Dodge may have still been unhappy with Atwood since 2002. Others say Atwood was fired because Fitz wanted to form relationships with Chip Ganassi's cup team (Felix Sabates is Fitz's father-in-law) by putting David Stremme into the #14 car. On the other hand, other NASCAR fans say Atwood had his chance at the cup, and that he moved up too quickly at a young age. These fans say he simply failed to perform.

External links

* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=atwooca01 Driver Stats at racing-reference.info]
* [http://www.gocasey.com/ Unofficial Website]