Atwood Overcomes Accidents, Damage in Memphis

Casey Atwood

Memphis, TN (October 30, 2006) – Casey Atwood was a victim of damage during two of the Sam’s Town 250’s 15 caution flags, but he turned the misfortune into a solid 17th place finish at Memphis Motorsports Park Saturday.

Rain fell over the Memphis area much of Friday and briefly halted the first practice session. On Saturday, an early qualifying draw led Atwood to take the No. 27 SCOTT® Brand Tissue Ford Fusion to a 17th place qualifying effort. Atwood went out second of 50 cars and both he and Crew Chief Stewart Cooper expressed their concerns to NASCAR officials over the still-wet track conditions before they went out for their qualifying run.

“That early draw didn’t do anything to help us,” Atwood said. “The track got faster as more rubber was laid down. We really were hurt by having to go out second on a green track.”

During the race, Atwood reported to Cooper early that the No. 27 SCOTT® Brand Tissue Ford Fusion was tight in the middle and loose off, but was running in the 11th position by lap 40. Cooper called Atwood into the pits on lap 47 to fix the handling issues and for four tires and fuel.

Shortly after he returned to the track, Atwood was involved in a caution on lap 52, causing slight left front fender and hood damage. The Brewco crew pitted to fix the damage to the SCOTT® Brand Tissue Ford. Atwood returned to the track in the 28th position, but moved up to the 23rd position by lap 98. He pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments on lap 102 and a fast pit stop by the No. 27 Brewco crew put the SCOTT® Brand Tissue Ford back on the track in 18th place.

Then Atwood was caught-up in a caution on lap 138 after racing hard with the No. 1 car. He reported back to Crew Chief Cooper that “we hurt it bad,” indicating that there was heavy front end damage and the toe had been knocked out.

“The steering wheel was to the left, but the grill was intact and we didn’t have any damage to the radiator,” Cooper said. Cooper brought Atwood to pit road four times to fix damage to the hood and the right front fender. Atwood returned to the track still on the lead lap in the 30th position.

“Our No. 27 SCOTT® Brand Tissue Ford was pretty banged up at that point,” Atwood said. “I feel like we definitely could have recovered from that early damage, but the contact with the 1 car pretty much did us in.”

Despite the ill-handling car, Atwood was back in the 19th position by lap 196 and ended the 252-lap race in 17th place.

“The Brewco guys gave me a great car,” Atwood said. “We just got stuck in lap traffic early and could never really get past those cars to start picking off the leaders. For the second week in a row the caution flags did us in. We needed some long green-flag runs to show what we had and it just didn’t happen. I’m proud of all the guys for working so hard and keeping me in the race.”

“Casey really did a great job hanging in there,” said Cooper. “The guys did an awesome job in the pits too. Things could have been a lot worse, given the lousy qualifying draw and all the damage we sustained. It seems like we just can’t catch a break, but we’re keeping our heads high heading into Texas. We know we’re capable of better results and with three races left this season, we’re looking forward to showing everyone what we’ve got.”

Next for the No. 27 Brewco team will be the O'Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, November 4. Television coverage of the event begins at 2:00 pm EST on TNT.