Casey Atwood

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.

He started 35th and finished 19th, two laps down.

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).

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

A former competitor in NASCAR competition, he is the youngest pole winner in Busch Series history, earning a pole start at the age of 17.

Atwood ran the last race of the year in Evernham's No. 91 Dodge and qualified 12th, but finished poorly.

He was the 1996 rookie of the year at Nashville Speedway USA.

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.

By the end of 1998, he had won two poles and five Top 20s in 13 races.

Atwood had his most success in the Busch Series in 1999 and 2000, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet for Brewco Motorsports.

Atwood became the youngest winner in series history in 1999 at 18 years, 317 days (the record would later be broken in 2008 by Joey Logano at 18 years, 26 days old).

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

In 1999, he joined the Brewco Motorsports No. 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 5s and nine Top 10s.

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

In 2000, Atwood made his Winston Cup debut in the No. 19 Motorola Ford for Ray Evernham at Richmond International Raceway.

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.

Atwood moved up to NASCAR Winston Cup full-time in 2001 in the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW 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.

In 2002, with the signing of Jeremy Mayfield to drive the No. 19, Atwood moved from Evernham's team to the No. 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.

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.

Also during 2002, Atwood drove an Evernham ARCA car bearing his former No. 19 at Pocono and dominated, winning the race from the pole.

His struggles at the Cup level over two seasons, however, derailed his career, with his last Cup start coming in 2003 at the young age of 22.

After spending parts of seven seasons back in the Busch Series, Atwood's national series career ended in 2009.

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 made two more starts that year and earned his first Top 10, a 10th at Homestead.

Atwood struggled throughout the year, having zero Top 10s, and just one Top 10 qualifying effort and finishing 35th in points.

He finished 13th in points.

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.

A brilliant performance would follow, as Atwood led 104 laps and ultimately brought his No. 28 Red Line Oil Chevrolet home in second-place to Mike McLaughlin.

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 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.