Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with a driver from NASCAR’s past, Tennessee’s own Casey Atwood. After rapidly making a name for himself in the late model stock division at Nashville Fairgrounds, Atwood made a big splash in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, becoming one of the youngest winners in history. Casey explains that while his family grew up watching racing, he would become the first driver in his lineage after convincing his father to buy him a go-kart. The father-son team would start out at the Nashville Fairgrounds before entering the World Karting Association ranks and finding championship success.

Upon graduating from the karting world, Casey entered into the four-cylinder ranks at Highland Rim Speedway in Greenbrier, TN. It was there he forged a friendship with Bobby Hamilton, a relationship that would help pave his entryway into NASCAR. A successful season in late model stock competition propelled his name into the NASCAR garage, and after turning heads in 1999 by becoming the youngest winner in Xfinity Series history at the time, Casey was sure he would have a spot in the sport for many years to come. Unfortunately though, a career gamble on a new team and a year of rookie struggles in the Cup Series would leave Casey Atwood in the “what could have been” category of NASCAR’s past drivers.

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