Scott Riggs

Riggs at Homestead Miami in 2008

**Russell Scott Riggs** is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Pepsi Cup Series driving for multiple teams part-time in 2013. He only participated in five full seasons from 2004-2008, with his best points finish being 20th in 2006.

## Career

### 2004-2005: MB2 Motorsports

In December 2003, Riggs was announced to drive the no.10 Valvoline Chevrolet full time for MB2 Motorsports in 2004, replacing Johnny Benson, Jr.

Going into 2004, Riggs was in a strong rookie class with Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Brendan Gaughan, and Scott Wimmer. Riggs was also the oldest driver in that rookie class at age 33 compared to the other rookies with Kahne's age at 24, Vickers' age at 21, Gaughan's age at 29, and Wimmer's age at 28.

Riggs' rookie year and first Pepsi Cup season started on a bad note with a 34th place finish in the 2004 Daytona 500 after a crash at lap 109. The following race at Rockingham, Riggs would complete his first Pepsi Cup race but was ten laps down in 31st.

The next several races in the year saw more disappointing performances with him not finishing higher than 25th until the seventh race of the year at Texas when he achieved his first top-twenty by finish 15th. Later at Dover, Riggs would score his first career top-five by finishing 5th in the event.

However following that, he would not finish in the top ten again until a 7th place run in the 25th race of 2004 at California. He would end his rookie year with one top five, two top tens, and eight DNF's (Due to four crashes and four mechanical issues) with a 29th points place finish. He would place 5th in Rookie of the Year standing, as he was the worst performing rookie in 2004.

In 2005, Riggs started off the year, with an amazing 4th place finish in the 2005 Daytona 500. After suffering two DNF's in a row at California and Las Vegas, he would then score two top tens in a row with a 9th at Atlanta, and a 10th at Bristol. In the following race at Martinsville, Riggs won his first career pole, but finished 21st in the race. Then at Michigan in August, during a fuel gamble attempt by many teams, Riggs ended up in a career-best second to race winner, Jeremy Mayfield. Riggs' only other highlight was a scary flip in the 2005 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega. Riggs ended the year with two top fives, four top tens, a pole, but suffered eight DNF's once again, and placed 33rd in points.

### 2006-2007: Evernham Motorsports/Gillette Evernham Motorsports

Valvoline, Riggs, and the no.10 departed MB2 at the end of the year to join Evernham Motorsports. Throughout the 2006 season Riggs' perforce improved dramatically. Riggs scored a career-high eight top tens throughout the year. He also won the pole for both races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He would also win the Pepsi Open, and went into the Pepsi All Star Race where he placed 10th in the main event. Riggs' best finish of 2006 was a 4th in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol. Riggs would place 20th in points with one top five, eight top tens and two poles.

However in 2007, Riggs and the 10 team would fall down flat on their face, with only one to ten at Martinsville, and seven top twenties accompanied by many other disappoint performances. At the end of 07, Riggs was released from GEM in exchange of Patrick Carpentier.

### 2008: Haas CNC Racing

During the 2007-2008 off seasons, Riggs would join Haas CNC Racing to drive their no.66 Chevrolet. Despite no DNF's in early part of the season, Riggs struggled with thirteen finishes outside the top twenty, but had four top twenties with a best finish of 16th in the 2008 Aaron's 499 at Talladega. But his performance picked up following the announcement of Tony Stewart as the new co-owner of the team in mid-summer of 2008, even nabbing a top ten at Talladega in the fall. He placed 35th in points, but was released in exchange of Ryan Newman.

### 2009-2013: Final Starts

Beginning in 2009, Riggs announced he would drive Tommy Bladwin's no.36 Toyota. But after 12 races, with a best finish of 25th in the 2009 Daytona 500, accompanied with DNFS, and start-and-parks, Riggs left TBR after refusing to be a start-and-park driver. He failed to find a ride for the remainder of the 2009 season.

In 2010, Riggs would make his first start of the year in that year's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International, driving the no.90 Chevrolet Impala for Keyed-Up Motorsports. Riggs was running 25th on the lead lap in the event, but he blew a right-front tire with 4 laps to go and pounded the Turn 3 wall, forcing a green-white-checkered finish. Riggs went on to finish 28th. Due to sponsorship reasons, Keyed-Up Motorsports announced they would not return to the Pepsi Cup Series until they had enough funds to run entire races, which the team was unable to do. Riggs would bounce around between Prism Motorsports' no.66 Toyota and Whitney Motorsports' no.81 Chevy in the last handful of races in 2010.

In 2011, Riggs would drive for Whitney's no.81 for eight races in the season, but was a start-and-parker. Riggs later attempted a race for R3 Motorsports in their no.23 Toyota at Phoenix, but the field pump quit during practice and no back-up car or parts were available, caused them to miss the event. He would then attempt the finale at Homestead in K-Automotive's no.92 Dodge, but like the previous, lack of equipment and mechanical problems with the car forced them to miss the field.

R3 would hire Riggs for most of the 2012 season to share the ride with owner, Robert Richardson, Jr., but much like Whitney, the team was a start-and-park, for most the year. In 2012, Riggs' best finish was 40th at Pocono and Atlanta.

In 2013, Riggs would join the new team, Xxxtreme Motorsport and their no.44 Ford. Riggs attempted most races in the first half of the season, but following numerous instances of having to start and park, coupled with poor sponsorship, the team shut down for the year midseason with Riggs moving over to Humphrey-Smith Racing's no.91 Toyota for the second Michigan race. He would then join Leavine Family Racing's no.95 Ford for the second New Hampshire race, where he would run only 92 laps, and place last. This would later turn out to be his last Pepsi Cup Start,