NASCAR Cup

Texas: Scott Riggs race report

Riggs Leaves Texas With Top-15 Finish FORT WORTH, Texas (April 4, 2004) -- Hard work and perseverance paid off for Scott Riggs Sunday as he piloted the No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet across the finish line of the Samsung/RadioShack 500 in the ...

Published: Apr 5, 2004, 5:47 PM

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Riggs Leaves Texas With Top-15 Finish

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 4, 2004) -- Hard work and perseverance paid off for Scott Riggs Sunday as he piloted the No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet across the finish line of the Samsung/RadioShack 500 in the 15th position.

Riggs, who started the 334-lap race 24th, found himself behind the wheel of a tight race car when the green flag dropped, but patiently drove his way around the 1.5-mile circuit, hitting his marks and enabling himself to stay in the top-twenty until changes could be made to the machine.

The Valvoline crew continuously made modifications to loosen up the snug racecar throughout the 500-mile competition, finally finding the formula they were looking for on Riggs' last journey down the pit road.

When he returned to the track, Riggs found himself lapping the circuit at top-10 speeds and slowly picking up spots. He eventually positioned himself as the first car on his lap and was able to hold off Matt Kenseth in the closing minutes of the race to pick up the 15th-place result.

"The guys worked so hard this weekend," said Riggs, who recorded his season-high finish before an estimated crowd of 216,000 fans. "I kept coming down the pit road and they kept giving me fast stops, loosening me up, and doing what they had to do to get the car where it needed to be. Even when we got two laps down, we hung in there, kept our chins up, kept working hard and, eventually, found our way to a top-15 finish."

Riggs' team struggled for speed in Saturday morning's practice sessions and decided to go a different direction for race day.

"We went one way with the setup in Saturday's practices and Joe and Ryan (teammate Joe Nemechek and crew chief Ryan Pemberton) went the other," Riggs explained. "Joe was a lot faster so we went with his exact blueprint for the race.

"We take our hats off to them (the U.S. Army team). We really utilized them as teammates this weekend and it made a world of difference. We hope we can return the favor one day."

"This is the result we wanted," Riggs continued. "It's just an indication of what this team has to offer. We got the solid finish we came for -- it's a small step, but it's a step in the right direction."

-mbv-

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