of 1998, he had won two poles and five Top 20s in 13 races. In 1999, he joined the Brewco Motorsports No. 27 Castrol GTX-sponsored Chevrolet team for his first full season in the NASCAR Busch Series. Atwood flipped during the first race of the season at Daytona International Speedway, after he was tapped by Andy Hillenburg coming to the white flag. Atwood became the youngest winner in Busch Series History when he won at the Milwaukee Mile at the age of 18 on July 4, 1999, which would stand until Joey Logano bested Atwood's mark by winning the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway on June 14, 2008 at the age of 18 years and 21 days. Atwood won another race at Dover in September and scored two pole starts. He finished 1999 with two wins, five Top 5s and nine Top 10s. He finished 13th in points. 2000 proved to be another good year for Atwood, as he managed to have two poles and eight top 10s, finishing eighth in points. Winston Cup In 2000, Atwood made his Winston Cup debut in a No. 19 Motorola-sponsored Ford for Ray Evernham at Richmond International Raceway. He started 35th and finished 19th, two laps down. He made two more starts that year and earned his first Top 10, a 10th at Homestead. Atwood moved up to NASCAR Winston Cup full-time in 2001 in the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW-sponsored car for Evernham's team Evernham Motorsports, a newly formed team under the Dodge banner, to compete for Rookie of the Year honors. Atwood was the youngest driver in the series in 2001. He was nicknamed the "Next Jeff Gordon," due to Gordon's similar rise from Busch to Cup at a young age, and was teammate to former Cup Champion, Bill Elliott. Atwood struggled through the year, but improved as the season went on, winning the pole at Phoenix and was in contention to win the race, while leading the race a flat tire slowed his day as he was only able to make it back to 14th place by the end of the race. A week later at the season finale at Homestead, he was leading with five laps to go, but was passed by Elliott and Michael Waltrip. Atwood would place third, his career-best Cup finish. Atwood also finished third in the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year standings (behind future Cup