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CONCORD, N.C. -- Scott Riggs squatted next to his hauler late Sunday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, throwing up what fluids remained in his body.
He was overcome with exhaustion and overwhelmed with disappointment.
With 41 laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600 Riggs appeared headed for his first Nextel Cup victory. The pole-sitter had led 90 laps, second only to eventual winner and Evernham Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne, and was pulling away from the field.
Then came a green-flag pit stop.
The car stalled, running out of gas as it came down pit road. As the crew attempted to jump-start it with a push the jack and gas can were carried out of the pit box.
The stall dropped Riggs to fifth. An ensuing penalty, which was imposed under caution a few laps later for having equipment outside the pit box, dropped him to 17th.
He finished 13th, a solid run but not nearly what he expected on this hot, muggy night in NASCAR's longest race.
"Just can't believe it's happening,'' Riggs said as he recalled his thoughts when the car stalled. "You don't understand it. ... We had a shot [to win] for sure.
"If anybody thinks we didn't have a shot they weren't watching the race.''
Riggs was more emotional than usual. Perhaps it was the frustration of seeing another opportunity blown by a mistake, which his team has made plenty of this season.
The car broke a gear in qualifying for the Daytona 500 and a bad pit stop in the qualifying race left Riggs out of his first race for his new organization.
At Texas, a miscue on pit road cost Riggs 11 spots and a chance to again catch Kahne. He finished seventh.
"That crew works really hard and just makes mistakes in the pits that's taken them out of a couple of races,'' team owner Ray Evernham said. "The good news is that's a first-year team and Scott Riggs has shown he can drive a racecar and win races.
"We've just got to sit down tomorrow and stop inflicting wounds on ourselves. A pretty huge disappointment.''
But with disappointment there is satisfaction that the team is putting itself in position to win. Riggs finished ninth at Talladega last month and 14th at Richmond a week later.
He won the Nextel Open last weekend to advance to the Nextel All-Star Challenge, where he finished 10th.
Then he won the pole for the 600 and led the first 35 laps, two more than he'd led during his brief Cup career that began in 2004.
"Our confidence is up because we know we can run well,'' Riggs said. "At the same time, we're still putting a lot of pressure on ourselves not to make mistakes, and then we make mistakes.''
The team also made some good decisions, adjusting the car that struggled through the middle of the race to get it back in the lead.
"The car drove great then,'' said Riggs, who drove most of the race with hot air blowing on his head because of a malfunction with the air conditioner.
Kahne was impressed.
"He was driving away from us,'' he said after winning his third race of the season. "When I said we needed to make some pretty big adjustments to win this race, I was talking about to beat Scott Riggs and Jimmie Johnson.''
Johnson, who saw his string of four consecutive wins at LMS end with a second-place finish, agreed Riggs had the field covered until the pit miscue.
"The run before the pit I was holding my own, but I couldn't catch him,'' he said.
That's why Riggs was so disappointed. But he doesn't plan to dwell on the disappointment now anymore than he did after Daytona.
"We just need to pull together as a team and not point fingers at each other and make sure we all stay confident in each other and remember we're a team,'' he said. "It takes every single one of us, and we don't need anybody getting down.
"We need to keep this momentum going.''
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/05/29/sriggs_cocacola600/index.html
He was overcome with exhaustion and overwhelmed with disappointment.
With 41 laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600 Riggs appeared headed for his first Nextel Cup victory. The pole-sitter had led 90 laps, second only to eventual winner and Evernham Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne, and was pulling away from the field.
Then came a green-flag pit stop.
The car stalled, running out of gas as it came down pit road. As the crew attempted to jump-start it with a push the jack and gas can were carried out of the pit box.
The stall dropped Riggs to fifth. An ensuing penalty, which was imposed under caution a few laps later for having equipment outside the pit box, dropped him to 17th.
He finished 13th, a solid run but not nearly what he expected on this hot, muggy night in NASCAR's longest race.
"Just can't believe it's happening,'' Riggs said as he recalled his thoughts when the car stalled. "You don't understand it. ... We had a shot [to win] for sure.
"If anybody thinks we didn't have a shot they weren't watching the race.''
Riggs was more emotional than usual. Perhaps it was the frustration of seeing another opportunity blown by a mistake, which his team has made plenty of this season.
The car broke a gear in qualifying for the Daytona 500 and a bad pit stop in the qualifying race left Riggs out of his first race for his new organization.
At Texas, a miscue on pit road cost Riggs 11 spots and a chance to again catch Kahne. He finished seventh.
"That crew works really hard and just makes mistakes in the pits that's taken them out of a couple of races,'' team owner Ray Evernham said. "The good news is that's a first-year team and Scott Riggs has shown he can drive a racecar and win races.
"We've just got to sit down tomorrow and stop inflicting wounds on ourselves. A pretty huge disappointment.''
But with disappointment there is satisfaction that the team is putting itself in position to win. Riggs finished ninth at Talladega last month and 14th at Richmond a week later.
He won the Nextel Open last weekend to advance to the Nextel All-Star Challenge, where he finished 10th.
Then he won the pole for the 600 and led the first 35 laps, two more than he'd led during his brief Cup career that began in 2004.
"Our confidence is up because we know we can run well,'' Riggs said. "At the same time, we're still putting a lot of pressure on ourselves not to make mistakes, and then we make mistakes.''
The team also made some good decisions, adjusting the car that struggled through the middle of the race to get it back in the lead.
"The car drove great then,'' said Riggs, who drove most of the race with hot air blowing on his head because of a malfunction with the air conditioner.
Kahne was impressed.
"He was driving away from us,'' he said after winning his third race of the season. "When I said we needed to make some pretty big adjustments to win this race, I was talking about to beat Scott Riggs and Jimmie Johnson.''
Johnson, who saw his string of four consecutive wins at LMS end with a second-place finish, agreed Riggs had the field covered until the pit miscue.
"The run before the pit I was holding my own, but I couldn't catch him,'' he said.
That's why Riggs was so disappointed. But he doesn't plan to dwell on the disappointment now anymore than he did after Daytona.
"We just need to pull together as a team and not point fingers at each other and make sure we all stay confident in each other and remember we're a team,'' he said. "It takes every single one of us, and we don't need anybody getting down.
"We need to keep this momentum going.''
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/05/29/sriggs_cocacola600/index.html
