Atwood to drive one race for Evernham

Elwood · May 2, 2003

May 1, 2003

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Casey Atwood is rejoining car owner Ray Evernham for a one-race Winston Cup deal next month at Pocono Raceway.

Atwood will drive the No. 91 Dodge Intrepid in the Pocono 500 on June 8, the team said Thursday. The car will be sponsored by Mountain Dew LiveWire, a new soda that will be available only this summer.

Evernham fields Winston Cup cars for Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield. The No. 91 is a research and development car entered in select events last season.

Atwood drove the car in the season finale last year, but has been out of a ride since.

He was 19 when Evernham plucked him out of the Busch series to drive for him full time in 2001. But Atwood struggled through his rookie season in the No. 19 Dodge, running as a teammate to Elliott, and was let go when Evernham had a chance to sign the more experienced Mayfield.

Then Evernham bought into Ultra Motorsports, solely to give Atwood another car to drive and remain under his umbrella. But Evernham split with Ultra owner Jim Smith in November and Atwood has been out of a job since.

antig24 · May 2, 2003

That's cool, Atwood kinda got shuffled out by evernham in the ultra motorsports deal.

General Lee 01 · May 2, 2003

Atwood's racing career might just be ruined thanks to Evernham.

If Evernham would've kept Atwood in the 19 with his crew and either put Mayfield in the 7, or not hire him at all, then allpartiesinvolved might

Casey had more sucess in the 19 car for 1 season than Mayfield has had for 1 and a quarter seasons.

JonesNTN · May 2, 2003

I can't say I'm impressed with Atwood. Its obvious he can drive, but that is a long list of people who can "drive". I think his problem is communicating to his crew about getting a car to do better. If he has the perfect set-up, then yes he can win. I just don't see much WC potential. Maybe ARCA or possibly even a top ten Busch Driver, but he needs to forget Cup for a while unless he wants to be like Derrick Cope.

Elwood · May 2, 2003

At the end of Atwood's rookie season he was really starting to improve. Had some real good runs and high finishes, one of the last races he got passed for the lead right near the end by his teammate. Then Evernham yanked him out of the car, right when he and the team were starting to communicate better and perform better. It takes a little time to develop the chemistry for a good team, sometimes a little longer for a rookie, and a brand new team. Evernham never gave him a fair deal. Just when he showed signs of improvement he was sent packing.