former #19 Evernham Motorsports driver Casey Atwood, 25, is sitting home, out of sport, without a ride. Atwood has been unavailable for comment on his future, but last week his father Terry said “as far as I know nothing is happening. The last time I talked to Casey he said he hadn’t found anything.” After leaving the Nextel Cup Series Atwood hoped to start over in the second-tier Busch Series, but so far that hasn’t happened. “Part of the problem is that so many Cup drivers are running Busch now that it cuts down on opportunities for young drivers,” Terry Atwood said. Atwood signed with Ray Evernham in 2000 and made his first Cup start that September at Richmond, Va. He ran his first full season in 2001, winning a pole at Phoenix and finishing third at Homestead. Despite that strong rookie season, the next year Evernham made a major shakeup. He put Jeremy Mayfield in Atwood’s Dodge and moved Atwood into a [#7] car co-owned by Jim Smith. Evernham at the time was spearheading Dodge’s return to NASCAR and explained that he wanted a more experienced driver in his primary car. Atwood’s new car was not competitive. After struggling through a disappointing season, he and Evernham parted company. Atwood at one time was considered to have Jeff Gordon-type potential. Now his career may be over. Atwood has said he is “disappointed” by the turn of events but refused to blame Evernham. “Ray did what he thought he needed to do for the sake of his team,” Atwood said. “I don’t have any hard feelings toward him.” “Ray gave up too quick on Casey,” Terry Atwood said. “I don’t know if he was feeling pressure from the Dodge people or what. Casey had some good races and everybody thought he was progressing well. Then one day it was all over. To my knowledge Ray has never given anybody an explanation about what happened. All I know is that it was a big setback for Casey and he has yet to recover from it.” (in part from the Tennessean)(4-26-2006)
