Credit: Autostock

Riggs' night ruined after early accident

A second-place starting position for Scott Riggs turned into a 41st-place finish Saturday, when the No. 10 Valvoline/ Herbie Fully Loaded Chevrolet fell victim to a multicar accident in Daytona International Speedway's rain-delayed Pepsi 400.

Riggs' qualifying effort and the strong lap times the Valvoline Chevrolet produced in Nextel Cup practice gave the No. 10 team plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into the third restrictor-plate race of the season, which started at 11 p.m. Saturday and ended at 1:45 a.m. Sunday.

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That optimism was transformed to frustration on Lap 35 of 160 when a 10-car melee in Turn 4 collected the Valvoline Chevy, forcing Riggs to drive the car to the garage for damage repair.

"I just didn't see anyone use any hand signals out there," said Riggs. "When they checked up in front of me, I tried to check up and squeeze by them. I went high to try and avoid wrecking the 42 car (Jamie McMurray). I think Mark (Martin) saw me coming up and turned right to avoid me and got into the wall. That just started the chain reaction."

Riggs was running ninth when the incident occurred.

"I just hate that it happened," he continued. "We're going that fast out there and you're supposed to use hand signals. When I'm going to pit I stick half my arm out the window to let people know I'm coming in. I knew we were about to pit in two laps and I was already planning where I had to use my hand signals to make sure everyone saw them.

"I don't know if those guys in front of me just decided at the last minute to pit or what. But I didn't get any hand signals from the car in front of me- I just didn't see it."

The team scurried to the garage area where they restored the Valvoline machine to race condition.

"The team had to spend half the race getting the car back together," offered Riggs. "We finished the race a lot of laps down, but we kept from getting a DNF (did not finish) on the score sheet, so that's something.

"I guess we'll try and put it behind us now and concentrate on Chicago."

Chicagoland Speedway is the next stop on the Nextel Cup Series schedule (July 10). The race will be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 3 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. local time.