CASEY
ATWOOD
Car: 19 Dodge
Primary Sponsor: Dodge Dealers
Team: Evernham Motorsports
Crew Chief: Patrick Donahue
2001
ROOKIE
OF THE
YEAR?
Schooling will come quickly in 2001
for Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Casey Atwood, who has
only three Winston Cup starts for team owner Ray Evernham.
Atwood, a native of the Nashville
suburb of Antioch, Tenn., cut his teeth at the Nashville Speedway
USA half-mile that made the early NASCAR names of such a diverse
group as Coo Coo and Sterling Marlin, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff
Green. He made an impressive debut in Winston Cup racing ironically
in No. 19 Motorola Fords fielded by Evernham, who made his name
in DuPont Chevrolets driven by Jeff Gordon.
The popular phenom who only made
his Busch Series debut in 1998, made his first Winston Cup start
amid great fanfare at Richmond International Raceway in September,
where he finished 19th -- even while he struggled in his Busch
Series ride with Brewco Motorsports. However, he scored his first
career Winston Cup top-10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway after earning
a workmanlike 25th place finish at Martinsville Speedway. Atwood
proved he might be an adept qualifier by starting fifth last season
at Homestead in only his third Winston Cup start.
In 2001 Atwood will drive No. 19
Dodge Dealer Network Intrepids wrenched by Patrick Donahue.
Atwood won his first Busch Series
pole in only his second start as a 17-year-old and finished second
in the race at Nashville Speedway USA. He won the pole later that
season at Homestead.
He scored his first Busch Series
victory in a controversial manner at Milwaukee in 1999 when he
elbowed current champion Jeff Green aside to become the youngest
driver, at 18 years, 10 months and nine days, to win a series
event. He won his second career NBS event in September 1999 at
Dover, Del.
He finished eighth in the 2000 Busch
Series standings, winning poles at Nashville and South Boston,
Va., and scoring eight top-10 finishes.
Atwood began his driving career
at age 10 racing karts in the World Karting Association. He won
three straight Tennessee State Karting championships and two WKA
titles.
He began driving Late Model Stock
Cars at age 15 at Highland Rim Speedway north of Nashville and
had more than a dozen victories before his 16th birthday. He won
rookie of the year honors in Nashville Speedway's Late Model Stock
Car division in 1996 and drove in a Craftsman Truck Series race
at Nashville later that year.
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last up dated on MARCH 8, 2002
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