Credit: Autostock

Riggs' strong run spoiled in Talladega

Scott Riggs' third top-five starting position of the season turned into a disappointing finish Sunday, when the No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet fell victim to a massive multi-car accident in the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Riggs' strong fourth-place qualifying effort and top spot in Nextel Cup practice gave the Valvoline team plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into the second restrictor-plate race of the season.

That optimism was transformed to frustration on Lap 132 of 188 when a 25-car melee collected the Valvoline Chevy, forcing Riggs to drive the car to the garage for damage repair.

"I wanted to finish with all four fenders on the Valvoline Chevrolet today but we wanted to be the same four we started with," said Riggs, who was credited with a 27th-place finish. "Everyone did a great job all weekend. We did everything right from the moment we unloaded. We just ended up being at the wrong place at the wrong time."

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Riggs came out of the gate strong, quickly moving to the second position in the 43-car field and never falling out of the top-15 until falling victim to the "Big One." Riggs was racing for the fifth position when the accident occurred.

"We kept getting shuffled back a little and we'd work our way right back up front, which is what we were doing when the wreck happened," he continued. "But, in the end, we were about one lane too far back to miss the wreck. That's superspeedway racing."

Following a 43-minute red-flag delay for track repair and cleanup, the Valvoline team went to work to fix the heavily-damaged Chevrolet.

"The guys did a great job getting me back on the track," offered Riggs, who maintained the 19th spot in Nextel Cup driver point standings. "We were able to pick up several spots by beating some other damaged cars out of the garage. I'm lucky to have such a hard-working group of guys on my side and I have all the faith in the world that they'll put together another incredible racecar to take back to Daytona in July.

"I really hate today's outcome for them the most, but everyone knew we were here today, and that's a credit to this team."

The next race for the Valvoline Team will be Saturday night in Darlington, S.C.