Riggs eager for answers from new team ownership

After a potential top-five finish was lost on fuel mileage, Scott Riggs still had enough spirit to help his crew push the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing machine back to the Pocono Raceway garage.

Out of gas and nearly out of hope, Riggs is a driver with little-to-no job security these days.

Nevertheless, he persevered and raced up front throughout the Sunoco Red Cross 500 on Sunday for a team he's convinced won't have him back next season.

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I wish someone would wake up and see the character I have and see the leader I can be at a team with some consistency. That's what's been frustrating at the last two places I've been.
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SCOTT RIGGSThe team he joined at the end of 2007 becomes Stewart-Haas Racing next year, co-owned by two-time Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.

The move has Riggs, for a second time in two years, looking for a new job.

"I just know in my heart I'm not going to be here next year, but not being a big enough man coming to tell me, [new management] must not understand what kind of character I have. If [management] thinks I would lay down behind the wheel if [they]told me ..." said Riggs, frustrated that an announcement has yet to be made regarding the team's future driver lineup.

Next year's driver of the No. 66, which will be switched to the No. 4, has yet to be named but speculation has Penske Racing's Ryan Newman as the top candidate.

Regardless of the decision, Riggs said he races like it could be his last, and after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the driver managed to race the No. 66 back into the top 35 in the owner standings.

"I wish someone would wake up and see the character I have and see the leader I can be at a team with some consistency," he said. "That's what's been frustrating at the last two places I've been."

In 2006, Riggs joined Evernham Motorsports only to be what he called "shuffled out" in the summer of 2007 after the team's partnership with George Gillett Jr. was formed, changing the operation to Gillett Evernham Motorsports. His results were mixed and the team failed to qualify for more than a handful of races.

He was to have a new start at Haas CNC Racing where so far this season his average finish has been 25.9 in his 19 races. What looked to be at least a top-10 finish was lost at Pocono when Riggs was forced to save fuel, which proved futile as his machine ran out of gas nearing the end of the race. He finished 29th.

His focus for the remainder of the season will be on racing the No. 66 well into the top 35, something that could only help Stewart's ownership transition next season.

"I think [Riggs] did a great job ... I'm really proud of what he and [crew chief Bootie Barker] and what those guys have done," said Stewart, who finished second in Sunday's race. "We've got a lot of evaluating to do over there right now and that's the hard part. You know that there's some good people that may have to go and some people that are going to be saved."

Stewart knows first-hand that making personnel decisions is difficult as the driver was forced to let his best friend go when he released Danny Lasoski from his World of Outlaws team.

"That's the hard part about this," Stewart said. "Trying to figure out what exactly the right thing to do is. It's easy to let the emotions get caught up in making those decisions, but you have to sit down as a group and evaluate it together. That's a difficult part of what we are doing right now. I'm really proud of those guys. I'm really proud of Tony Raines as well"

Raines finished 18th in the No. 70 Haas CNC Racing machine.

With the thought he won't be asked to stay with the Stewart-Haas, Riggs said he has been in talks with other teams about 2009.

"I've been having a lot of conversations," he said. "I'm trying to figure out what is going to happen with me. I know this organization is on the way up and going to have a great group of guys and drivers coming on board. It will be interesting to see where my feet land and I've been talking to a lot of people, but right now I'm focused on what we are doing and trying to be the best we can be for the rest of this year."