Scott Riggs, Tommy Baldwin Racing parting ways

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Tommy Baldwin Racing's Scott Riggs has competed in seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season.

Jim Fluharty
NASCAR Scene

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CONCORD, N.C. – Scott Riggs is parting ways with Tommy Baldwin Racing following the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the driver said Sunday.

Riggs has qualified for eight of the first 12 races with a top finish of 25th in the Daytona 500. Riggs ran only 54 laps at Richmond and 101 laps at Darlington before his day ended because of mechanical issues.

Riggs said Sunday he wasn’t optimistic that the No. 36 team could continue to compete for the full length of future events without significant sponsorship and that, combined with the team’s performance, made it time for him to leave. He will start the Coca-Cola 600 in the 43rd spot.

“I’m a competitor and I’m a racer,” Riggs said. “… It kills my soul to know that we go to the race track and we’re not going to be competitive. Even if the car is competitive, we’re not going to be there around at the end to be competitive.

“I knew when we first started this deal it was going to be a possibility, I knew it was going to be hard and a struggle to get sponsorship and get it off the ground. … I just know we needed something to change.”

Riggs said he and Baldwin talked about the situation this past weekend and the decision was made for him to leave.

“To come to a track like this where just a few years ago I sat on the pole [for the 2006 Coca-Cola 600], won the [Sprint] Open, led the 600 toward the end, a place I know I can get the job done and I come here and can barely make the field, it hurts too much,” he said.

Signed by Evernham Motorsports in 2004, Riggs drove for four years for Ray Evernham and then for Haas CNC Racing last year. He has a best career finish of 20th in points in 2006.

“I want somewhere that I can grow, I can build, I can race and be competitive,” Riggs said. “I’m more confident in what I’m doing behind the wheel than ever before. … I’m familiar with the cars. Me being familiar with the car, me understanding about the car, tire pressure, bump stops, what the car needs to feel like is still not enough to overcome the obstacles.

“Struggling to make the races and worrying about making races instead of worrying about how to win races is just backward thinking. I can’t be in a situation where that’s how we’re thinking.”

The 38-year-old Riggs, who has four career victories in Nationwide and five in Truck, said he would entertain offers in any series.

“What’s hard is going out there and trying to keep the respect of not just the fans but also the respect of your peers,” Riggs said. “You’re out there on the race track and these guys are racing for the win and they’re racing for points.

“And they’re doing all they can. And here I am knowing that we’re not going to finish the race [and it] is really soul-destroying. It kills the passion and the driver, the competitive nature, that I am. It is totally against my grain.”

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Comments

7 responses to "Scott Riggs, Tommy Baldwin Racing parting ways". Post a Comment.

1

merri-scott said:
May 24, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Best wishes to Scott!
2

galvan18244 said:
May 25, 2009 at 2:54 AM
Riggs will for sure get a ride this year!!
3

themoodys13 said:
May 25, 2009 at 8:39 AM
This guy should be drug tested if he feels he should be put in a competitive car.He had a shot in a great car for Evernham and he blew it.He needs to go back to truck where the rest of the hope they wills and wish they weres are.
4

Rusty_Shackelford728 said:
May 25, 2009 at 1:23 PM
I really like Scott Riggs but I that his window of opportunity to get a decent Cup ride is closed. Due to his age and his results thus far in the series, not too many owners will seriously look at giving him a long term deal in a good ride. I'm sure he will be able to land a good Nationwide or Truck ride and contend for wins.

To the author - Riggs didn't drive for Evernham for 4 years, it was only two - 2006 and 2007. For the 2004 and 2005 years, he drove for MBV/MB2 motorsports, the team that was eventually purchased by Bobby Ginn and then merged with DEI. I've seen several motorsports writers make this mistake, which is understandable since he drove the 10 car with Valvoline as the sponsor for both organizations. But they were certainly not the same team.

I will say that Riggs never really got a fair shake, 2006 was the only year he was in good equipment. But, that's how things go in this sport. Evernham motorsports was terrible in 2007 across the board, if you recall, they were building their cars based on testing data incorrectly entered into their computers, an error they did not catch until halfway through that season.
5

bernie said:
May 25, 2009 at 8:12 PM
I think Scott gave it a great effort and hope he finds another ride.
6

rsshawley said:
May 25, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Scott's a good little racer. He won in Trucks and went on to win in Busch. After missing the Daytona 500, he still came back to finish decent in Cup. I hope he gets a ride in Nationwide or Trucks where he knows he can win. He was great in that #2 truck. Too bad KHI now owns it. Or maybe Kevin can get him for that truck. He deserves a ride.
7

steelejl said:
May 27, 2009 at 2:54 PM
I like the part of the story where Riggs said, "I'm a competitor and I'm a racer." Based on his history in Cup racing I assume he's talking about racing for positions 35 through 43.