Casey Atwood in the 91 Dodge????

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I was reading on NASCAR's website in the buzz that Casey Atwood might finish off the season in the 91 Dodge. It says that if he does get replaced in the 7 car with Kevin Lepage (witch would be Jim Smith's decision) Evernham will put him in the 91 car for the rest of the season.

I also heard that Evernham wants to get out of his relationship with Smith and the 7 car. If Smith releases Atwood that might push Evernham over the edge and end the relationship/partnership with Smith.
 
One has to wonder if Ray isn't simply fulfilling his contractual obligations to Casey. Not really wonder, it is most likely true.

Would not be at all surprised to see Casey go back to BGN. Rumors abound that he is working on deal to do just that with BrewCo in the ride Jamie will leave to go WC racing.

As to the partnership between Ray and Jim Smith. I still think Dodge wants to do a little pruning now that they have Penske locked in and another Ganassi team set.
 
Originally posted by HardScrabble
One has to wonder if Ray isn't simply fulfilling his contractual obligations to Casey. Not really wonder, it is most likely true.
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I though Casey had a three-year contract with Evernahm. That means Atwood still has another year on his contract.
 
I think he's been driving a '91 Dodge all year. One of them big aircraft carrier types. With the aircraft still on board. And anchors....don't forget the anchors.

Poor kid. I pray sweet Jesus he makes Sugar Ray regret ever hearing the name Jeremy MayFlop.
 
Originally posted by Nascar24rainbow
I though Casey had a three-year contract with Evernahm. That means Atwood still has another year on his contract.
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Casey had a three year deal, or has one I should say. Sirius is also signed through 2003.

What we don't know is if the third year is an "option" year or not. Option years are not uncommon in these contracts.

There is likely some "notification" clause in the contract either way. This virtually a standard boilerplate in these deals. The party wanting out of the deal has to come up with something in the contract that allows a curtailment. Then notification of anywhere from 30 days to 6 months may be required of a desire to terminate or modify the existing agreement.

There is also usually a non-disclosure clause which will not allow either party to release or make public full details of the agreement.
 
Originally posted by TN-Ward-Fan
I think he's been driving a '91 Dodge all year.  One of them big aircraft carrier types.  With the aircraft still on board.  And anchors....don't forget the anchors.

Poor kid.  I pray sweet Jesus he makes Sugar Ray regret ever hearing the name Jeremy MayFlop.
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You got that right, TWF. Jeremy hasn't exactly done a stellar job this year. Didn't Hank finish behind Casey yesterday? So maybe they were both driving R&D cars. I hope for Casey's sake he gets a good ride with some one who has good equipment. I say that Ray will live to regret the day he got rid of Casey.
 
Even an R&D car is better than what Casey has been getting in the 7. Put Casey back in his car and put Hey Jaramay in the 91.
 
I think Casey Atwood would be a lot better off in the #91 car. Maybe Evernham is realizing his mistake and trying to put Atwood back in a decent team while trying to shake off the #7 ownership. But then why put Hank Parker Jr. in the car? What the heck is going on back there?
 
Originally posted by rpmallen
I think Casey Atwood would be a lot better off in the #91 car. Maybe Evernham is realizing his mistake and trying to put Atwood back in a decent team while trying to shake off the #7 ownership. But then why put Hank Parker Jr. in the car? What the heck is going on back there?
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Ray Evernham put Hank Parker Jr. in the 91 Dodge at Rockingham because Hank was the first driver to ever win a Busch race in a Dodge. Ray felt that he should be awarded for this accomplishment by putting him in a Cup race.
 
Sorry to say, but Casey Atwood needs to get back in the Busch Series for a while...
 
Well wouldn't that be really nice of Evernham. No your not fired, but we're just fulfilling duties. What a nice guy Evernham is.
 
We'll have to see where Atwood ends up before we pass final judgement on Evernham.
 
Originally posted by rpmallen
We'll have to see where Atwood ends up before we pass final judgement on Evernham.
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Why? He's a putz, and was long before Casey started shaving, much less driving a Cup car.
 
On Jayski it says that Smith did buy back full interest in the 7 team after finding out that the engienes in the 7 car had less hoursepower then the 9 and 19 cars at Rockingham. This is also why he released Casey Atwood and is puttin gJason Leffler in the car. Smith will also be getting engienes from a diffrent supplier (doesn't say who, but it probably will be Elliott)
 
Personally, I think Atwood has run his best at Phoenix and Homestead.
 
I think it would be cool for Atwood to go to Ganassi. I think that would be a good partnership.
 
Racing has nothing whatsoever to do with being a nice guy. There is no such thing as a nice guy owner. Come the end of the year it's all bottom line. Casey did not fit the bottom line.

Ray didn't release Casey because of this, that, or the other thing. Ray released Casey because the deal was not working, and to travel in a different direction.

I read an interview that included his thoughts on change that Ray did in Racer Magazine. Ray does not imo change directions easily but once he sees that a change is needed, he makes the change. He obviously thought the best change for the team included a new driver.

Ray's duty is to himself and his team, not ANY individual member. Personally, I think the kid had a dern good chance and simply couldn't measure up.
 
I think he had a good chance in the 19, until he got booted for next year, and broke the team chemistry. It's a shame, but Mayfield hasn't done that much better. I hope Casey can come back.
 
What did you expect? Not all rookie drivers are going to be like Stewart, Johnson or Newman. And when he actually started doing well, he got kicked out. Fair Chance? He only had a year.
 
This is big bucks motorsports, and the fair only comes to town once a year. The kid (figuring a 50/50 driver split) made almost 2 million dollars in two years.

You gonna tell me a million bucks a year ain't fair?
 
If any takes the 41, I'd say it'll be Jimmy Vasser. He has said that he was interested in changing to Stock Cars... maybe this could work out. I doubt it, cause I dont know if he has any exp. in NASCAR.
 
Casey should be put back in the 19 next year. He was starting to put good runs together at the end of last year and would have been better off running with the good equipment.

I would doubt Vasser would switch over to Cup without any experience, maybe a year in busch and then full time cup in 04.
 
From Jayski .... sounds like there's a lot of internal strife with the #7 team ...

Before Atwood was released on Monday, both Buddy Barnes and subsequent crew chief Tony Furr did all they could to get Atwood acclimated to the program. Ray Evernham kept his end of the bargain by offering Furr whatever resources he needed to bring the car up to speed. In the last two weeks, Furr had Kevin Lepage standing by and running laps in Atwood's car just to give them a baseline and Lepage's times were far superior to Atwood's even though he didn't fit in the seat. Last Sunday, with 150 laps to go at Rockingham, Furr told Atwood if he wasn't going to race, he was heading for the house and did. According to my [Sporting News] sources, Evernham and Jim Smith were in the process of dissolving their partnership on Tuesday and Jason Leffler will finish out the year in the No. 7
 
When I read that from Lee Spencer, I was unsure what to make of it.

Obviously it is saying that Casey "layed down". I hope that is not true. The entire statement that Lee wrote contains a reference to Casey's need to mature. The wiring is response to a question from of Lee's readers and begins with this:

"Since you're from Nashville, I can understand why you would like to see a hometown boy do well, but Casey does not take direction well and has a lot of maturing to do before he returns to Winston Cup. "

Lee is not on my top notch reporter list, but she ain't bad. There may be some validity to her report.

IF Casey does not take direction well and "layed down" in the ride he had this year, his future in WC racing will be dimmed considerably. Owners look at more than just talent when evaluating prospective drivers. Attitude plays a very large role as well.

Let's see how Casey does in #91 car this weekend. Hank had no trouble qualifying the car, Casey will need to make a good show at a track where he has run well and has one pole to his credit already.
 
Originally posted by 71Fan
This is big bucks motorsports, and the fair only comes to town once a year. The kid (figuring a 50/50 driver split) made almost 2 million dollars in two years.

You gonna tell me a million bucks a year ain't fair?
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Do you think he really cares about the money?
 
Probably not. And from the looks of things he's going to struggle to match a mill a year for many years to come.

The fact that Lepage jumped in to the car and turned better times does not bode well for Casey's talent and/or communication skills. That his crew chief walked away during a race does not bode well for Casey.

I think Lee Spencer may have just called a spade a spade in her evaluation of Casey. Everybody yaks about spoiled kids, and it might be that Casey's run thru the candy store is over.
 
He will become a Winston Cup winner someday. Don't give up on him just yet.
 
Its now official. Evernham/Ultra Motorsports is no more. Evernham ended there relatioship early since Smith took Atwood out of the 7 car. Jason Leffler will also be driving the 7 car for the rest of the season and Atwood will be driving the 91 car at Homestead only.
 
The kid got screwed by Ray. It seems to me he was just starting to show some stuff in the 19 car and got the boot because of mayfield. Why couldn't evernham give him at least a second year in that car.
Hell he should know just what it takes. good old Jeff tore up alot of cars in his first year.
 
With the big bucks in WInston Cup, Atwood is fortunate to have a ride until the end of the year. Somewhere along the line after two years with Evernham, Atwood should have shown some ability to get the job done on a relatively consistent basis. This never happened. Talk of inferior equipment, less horsepower or research and development cars doesn't hold up with a high profile team in most cases.
There is too much money involved for a team owner to put R&D equipmment on the track without telling the partner or sponsor mostly because of escape clauses in the contract. Every contract has performance options as an escape clause calling for penalties if specific results are not attained.
Atwood needs to go to back to the Busch series, get his priorities in order, become throughly seasoned and then try Winston Cup again. Casey wasn't ripe when Ray picked him as the driver of the 19 car and an additional year in a partnership car with questionable financing and one partners legal problem hasn't helped.
 
Welcome aboard Whizzer!:)

And a good post to boot.

There is much truth in what you say. As to exactly what the quality of the equipment under Casey has been this year, we will never know for sure.

Based on information that has come to light this week regarding Caseys' attitude and maturity, if that info is factual, the need for Casey to gain some seasoning and maturity is evident.
 
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