Casey Atwood may be a candidate for a Busch Series ride as FitzBradshaw Racing studies the possibility of adding a partial schedule for a second team, this weeks NASCAR Winston Cup Scene reports. Busch Series Editor Rick Houston reports that team owner Armando Fitz has talked to Atwood, who has been out of racing since leaving the joint Winston Cup effort of Jim Smith and Ray Evernham last year. The story says former Busch Series competitor Tim Fedewa is another possibility for the car that would be sponsored by JaniKing in at least five races. The story goes on to say that rumors say Kerry Earnhardt job has been rumored to be in jeopardy but owner Fitz denies it, also the story says Earnhardt may be looking elsewhere for a ride in 2004.(Winston Cup Scene Daily Newsletter)(5-15-2003)
UPDATE: see below for the updated story on Atwood’s ride with the team and the US Navy……and….One of the measures the team has taken is adding a second car, driven by Casey Atwood, for a partial schedule. There have been printed reports that Atwood might eventually take over the car driven by Earnhardt. ”I don’t ever say anything about the future,” Earnhardt said. ”You never know what it holds. All I’m interested in right now is doing whatever I can to get this team turned around.” Armando Fitz, co-owns the team with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Fitz recently responded to speculation that Earnhardt might be out: ”He’s still my driver. We’re not as competitive as we would like to be. We’ve just gotta figure out how to get him better. We’ve had some accidents, some things that were completely out of his control.” Atwood has yet to run a race for the team. He failed to qualify in his first attempt two weeks ago at Charlotte, and isn’t in Saturday’s Trace Adkins Chrome 300 [Nashville] because of a Winston Cup commitment at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA. Earnhardt said Atwood will be welcome as a teammate. ”A two-car team is good because it increases the technology,” Earnhardt said. ”It’ll help everybody.”(Tennessean)(6-3-2003)
