Casey Atwood made his first 2006 Busch Series start at Richmond, finishing 23rd. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Atwood

Before Kasey Kahne, there was Casey Atwood.

There was a time when Atwood, now 26, was the future of Evernham Motorsport, but that was before the age of Nextel, Kahne or Jimmie Johnson.

	Stats at a Glance Casey Atwood's Cup career Year Starts Wins T5s T10s 2000 3 0 0 1 2001 35 0 1 3 2002 35 0 0 0 2003 2 0 0 0

Atwood, the first driver hired to run Cup races for Evernham, lasted just one full season with the organization despite near-wins at Phoenix and Miami in 2001.

Atwood landed with the less-competitive Ultra Motorsports for 2002, and the career decline was on. He was out of Nextel Cup racing by the time he was 22.

Since then, he married and had a daughter, all the while managing to operate in the edge of the sport as a temporary fill-in or research and development driver.

Atwood remains the youngest driver to win a Busch Series pole and a Busch Series race -- he won two races for Brewco Motorsports in 1999 at 18. It was Brewco Motorsports who called Atwood last week and offered David Green's seat in the No. 27 Ford to Atwood.

Atwood has always felt a close connection to team owner Clarence Brewer, whose Busch operation is not based in Charlotte, but rather in out-of-the-way Central City, Ky.

The fact that Atwood remained in Nashville during his brief Cup career did little to ensure his spot in NASCAR's top series, but he never had that problem with Brewco, which is less than two hours from Atwood's hometown of Nashville.

Casey, how did this all come about? Did Clarence just call you out of the blue or where you lobbying to get it?

A little bit of both, I guess. We have been talking a little bit and I have always stayed in contact with him no matter where I was. We have always stayed friends.

Stats at a Glance Casey Atwood's Busch career Year Starts Wins T5s T10s 1998 13 0 1 1 1999 31 2 5 9 2000 32 0 0 8 2003 14 0 0 4 2004 29 0 1 7 2005 4 0 0 1 2006 1 0 0 0

They knew that if they ever needed anyone, just give me a call. So I have been talking with him a little bit, and thankfully, it worked out.

You have a child now. Has that helped you mature at all?

Yeah, probably. It is a lot of fun and it does make you grow up really quick. I am really happy with everything. It is really fun, it didn't know how I was going to do with that, but it is a lot of fun and I always can't wait to see her. So it does make you grow up pretty fast.

I remember you were criticized for not moving full-time to the Charlotte area from your hometown of Nashville. Are you going to do that now or stay in Nashville?

If I get a ride in Charlotte, I would definitely move up there. This team is only an hour and 45 minutes away from me so I can just drive up to the shop all the time.

But yes, that is something I should have done before and I definitely will if I get another opportunity over there again.

Are you trying to stay with this team?

I hope so. We are going to see how it goes here these few races and I'd definitely love for that to happen. I think if everything goes good these next three, four races, then that will happen.

What have you been doing the last two years? Just been watching the races on TV?

Yeah, I watch some of them, but I have been around. Last year I ran some truck races and I can some Busch races for Ray Evernham in his Busch car and this year I have been helping Joe Gibbs, practicing his car when J.J. [Yeley] is at Cup races and doing that.

I have stayed in cars the whole time, not as much as I'd like, but I stayed in them and I am glad to be back racing.

Did subbing for Yeley help you land the ride with Clearance since you could talk to him in person?

I always come by here [the Brewco hauler] when I come to the track. I have to thank all those guys at Joe Gibbs for putting me in their car because I ended up driving at Nashville, Kentucky, Milwaukee and Martinsville and was competitive every time so I think that helped with his decision.

Did you have any rust at all?

It didn't feel like it. To be honest with you, it is just all about the equipment you have nowadays. If you have good cars, you'll run fast and that is pretty much what happened over at [Joe Gibbs]. I stepped in it and we were fast right off the truck. You don't really forget how to do anything.

Is it hard to watch Nextel Cup knowing that there were so many good seats open and that you hadn't been around to be in line to get them?

Yeah, but I don't know I want to go up there right now. I kind of feel like I need to start all over and run Busch and stay somewhere for a couple of years and have some success and then try it again.

But Casey, it has got to be tough though, considering you're racing against 22 Cup guys every weekend, even if you improve the car, it will be tough.

Yeah, you can watch races. There are only a few teams that can win and that is it. Hendrick, Roush, Evernham, that is pretty much all that is winning.

If you're not with them, we don't know how you're going to run. I don't know, but that is definitely where I want to be in my career, but I feel like its time to start all over with a fresh start and that is what I am going to try to do here.

Casey, if you were 19, 20 years old all over again, would you go to Cup with Ray again?

Probably. I mean, how can pass it up after the success he had with Jeff Gordon? That is just an opportunity you can't pass up.

I am sorry it didn't work out, but I learned a lot and I am a lot better driver and I am a lot better at other aspects of being a race car driver too. It didn't work out. but I don't see how anyone can turn that opportunity down.

If that tire hadn't cut at Phoenix while you were leading in 2001, would we even be talking right now?

Probably not. I had a straightaway lead and cut a tire, then I had Homestead pretty much won -- I had like a four-second lead with 15 to go and had a caution and ended up losing that one.

We ended the season really good and I felt like that if I had another year over there we could have had a lot of success, but it didn't work out and I have just been trying to regroup ever since. Hopefully I can do that here.

What was your take on the Evernham-Jeremy Mayfield divorce?

I don't know, I don't know what is going on over there, but there is one thing I can tell you about all the stuff that came out about Ray: What should never be questioned is how he works. That is all he thinks about, is trying to make his racecars faster.

He is not a crew chief anymore, he don't have to get involved in the cars like he used to, his job is to put the right people in place to run the teams and to get the teams the right equipment and that is what he does. I think he was treated a little bit unfair there, but that is the way it is.