TALLADEGA, Ala. -- There are times when Scott Riggs feels like the forgotten man.

After qualifying for Sunday's Amp Energy 500, Riggs climbed from his No. 66 Chevrolet at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, spoke for a couple of minutes with his crew, then wandered over to the fence to sign autographs for a few fans before heading back to the garage area by himself.

The fact that he'll start 11th seemed to escape the notice of anyone in attendance.

“

I'm tired of going places to be a quick fix, and then as soon as I get things in the right direction, all of a sudden, I'm the odd man out.

”

-- SCOTT RIGGS

"I'm definitely under the radar, it seems like," Riggs said. "But that's OK. Under the radar is OK with me. If I ever get to a team where we can start building something that shows some performance, then everybody will talk. That's what I want everybody to talk about, not how we're having to move to different teams, and availability. I want to be not available and be on a team that people are talking about on Sunday."

Riggs has seven more races remaining before he finds himself out of a ride for the second season in a row. He was replaced in the No. 10 Gillett Evernham Dodge by Patrick Carpentier at Phoenix last year, and wasn't retained by Stewart-Haas Racing for 2009.

What Riggs would really like is something stable, but that might be asking a lot for the Bahama, N.C., native who hasn't posted a top-10 finish since he ran eighth at Martinsville in the spring of 2007. Still, he's run well enough this season to keep the car in the top 35.

"I just want to go somewhere that's got a program that's willing to give me some time to work in and build on," Riggs said. "I'm tired of going places to be a quick fix, and then as soon as I get things in the right direction, all of a sudden, I'm the odd man out."

Frustration would be the best way to describe Riggs' Sprint Cup career. After finishing 20th in the standings in 2006 despite failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, the team got off to a terrible start the next season and he missed six races.

Still, Riggs is keeping a positive outlook.

"It keeps you humble, for sure," Riggs said. "Having strong family back home means a lot. My kids help me a lot, because they don't care what's going on last week or what happens next week. They just know what's happening right now.

"It's frustrating, but at times, it's taught me a lot, it's made me a lot stronger and made me understand the sport a lot more and understand the politics of it."

Riggs isn't sure what the future holds, but he guarantees that he'll have a ride when the 2009 season rolls around.

"I've been talking to a lot of different teams," Riggs said. "I feel that I'm close with a couple of teams.

"I think I've proven myself to enough people, enough people have got their eye on me. The phone's been ringing, so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm eager to get in there and still prove something. I'm still pretty hungry. I don't think there's any of these 20-year-olds that are as hungry as I am."