Early life

Growing up in Antioch, Tennessee outside of Nashville, 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. 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, 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. 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. 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.

In 1999, he joined the Brewco Motorsports #27 Castrol GTX Chevrolet team for his first full season in the NASCAR Busch Series. 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. 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. 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.

Winston Cup

In 2000, Atwood made his Winston Cup debut in a #19 Motorola Ford for Ray Evernham at Richmond International Raceway. 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 #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. He was nicknamed the "Next Jeff Gordon," due to Gordon's similar rise from Busch to Cup at a young age, 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 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. Atwood also finished third in the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year standings (behind future Cup champions Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch), and 26th in Cup standings.

In 2002, with the signing of Jeremy Mayfield to drive the #19, Atwood moved from Evernham's team to the #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. Atwood struggled throughout the year, having no top 10's, and just one top-10 qualifying effort 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 for the rest of 2002, and later Jimmy Spencer in 2003. 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 bearing his former #19 at Pocono and dominated, winning the race from the pole.

In 2003, he drove Evernham's #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. Atwood's most recent appearance in the series was a failed qualifying attempt in the #95 car for the 2006 Ford 400 at Homestead. He was driving a Brewco-prepared Scott Towels/Kleenex Ford for Stanton Barrett.

Return to Busch

After his release from Evernham Motorsports in the Cup Series, Atwood was expected to return to Brewco's 27 (recently vacated by Jamie McMurray), but the ride instead went to Chase Montgomery and Joey Clanton. Beginning at Kentucky in June 2003, Atwood drove the #14 Navy Chevrolet for FitzBradshaw Racing, a second car for the team. Atwood also ran three races in the team's third #82 Chevy. Atwood returned to the #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). 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 #6 Unilever Dodge.

In early to mid-2006, Atwood practiced and qualified the #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. Beginning at Richmond in September, he returned to the #27 car for Brewco Motorsports for the rest of 2006. Atwood was replaced by Ward Burton in the #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. In 2009, Atwood qualified for 20 races in the #05 car for Wayne Day, and finished 44th in points.

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 #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 #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.

Personal life

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

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	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	HOM	ATL			54th	328
2001			Dodge	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	MCH	POC	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MAR	TAL	PHO	CAR	HOM	ATL	NHA	26th	3132
2002	Ultra-Evernham Motorsports	7		DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	CAR	PHO		35th	2621
	Evernham Motorsports	91																																					HOM
2003				DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	MAR	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	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	NA	-

Daytona 500

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

Nationwide Series

Year	Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings	Position	Team(s)
1998	13	0	1	1	2	16.9	20.1	$123,654	38th	#28 LAR Motorsports #27 Brewco Motorsports #63 HVP Motorsports
1999	31	2	5	9	2	16.3	21.7	$579,713	13th	#27 Brewco Motorsports
2000	32	0	0	8	2	16.3	19.3	$775,415	8th	#27 Brewco Motorsports
2003	14	0	0	4	0	26.8	20.7	$214,886	37th	#14/#82 FitzBradshaw Racing
2004	29	0	1	7	0	19.6	18.9	$763,441	19th	#14 FitzBradshaw Racing
2005	4	0	0	1	0	22.2	20.5	$82,520	76th	#6 Evernham Motorsports
2006	8	0	0	0	0	17.0	20.6	$223,084	52nd	#27 Brewco Motorsports
2007	4	0	0	0	0	27.0	20.0	$76,600	80th	#27/#37 Brewco Motorsports
2008	3	0	0	0	0	24.3	32.0	$65,408	93rd	#05 Day Enterprise Racing #27 Baker Curb Racing
2009	20	0	0	0	0	27.8	34.7	$430,670	44th	#05/#85 Day Enterprise Racing

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	RCH	NHA	MAR	NWS	SON	MMR	PHO	LVS		123rd	60
2005	Bobby Hamilton Racing	4	Dodge	DAY	CAL	ATL	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	NSH	ISF	WIN	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	CLT	100th	260
2004	FitzBradshaw Racing	14	Chevy	DAY	NSH	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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]