Casey Lee Atwood (born August 25, 1980)[1][2] is an American former stock car racing driver.

[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 with Evernham Motorsports for 2001.

Growing up in Antioch, Tennessee outside of Nashville,[1] Atwood became interested in racing at a young age.

[4][6] Casey attended John Overton High School in Nashville until he dropped out in 1999 to pursue his racing career.

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, a record that still stands in the Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity series, but in NASCAR in total, it had been surpassed in 2014 by a 16-year-old Cole Custer in the Truck Series.

[3] A brilliant performance would follow, as Atwood led 104 laps and ultimately brought his No.

[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).

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.

2000 proved to be another good year for Atwood, as he managed to have two poles and eight top 10s, finishing eighth 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.

At Pocono Raceway with sponsorship from Mountain Dew LiveWire, Atwood finished 40th after engine troubles.

[20][21] 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.

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 would later say that these cars, prepared by former Brewco mechanic Jason Ratcliff, were the best he'd ever driven.

After a year away from the sport, he returned to Brewco (then known as Baker-Curb Racing) to pilot the 27 car in 2008.

Atwood first appeared on the NASCAR scene in 1996, at the age of 16, in a Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Speedway USA.