After finishing 14th in the Sprint Cup season's final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Scott Riggs hustled through the dimly lit garage area, headed for an undisclosed target somewhere in the darkness ahead. That could very well describe Riggs' future as he ponders an offseason filled with unknowns.

With only his third top-15 finish of the season, Riggs helped the No. 66 team finish 30th in the owners' standings, guaranteeing a starting spot in the 2009 Daytona 500 for new driver Ryan Newman. Whether Riggs is also in the field when the green drops in February is a lot less certain.

As of last week, Riggs said he had been talking with several people about rides for next season, but nothing concrete had been finalized.

"It's bittersweet," Riggs said. "It's been such a hard season. I'm glad the season's over, to stop the bleeding. At the same time, with next year not being certain for me and not having a job secured already, man, it's scary times and I'm worried about it."

This is the second time in as many years that Riggs has found himself on the outside looking in. In 2007, Gillett Evernham Motorsports released Riggs with two races remaining to give open-wheel veteran Patrick Carpentier some stock-car oval experience. And when Tony Stewart was given the reins of Gene Haas' two-car operation starting in 2009, Newman was in and Riggs was again the odd man out.

So where does Riggs go from here? Well, to his hometown of Bahama, N.C., for starters.

"I'm just going to go back and keep having faith in myself, faith in the Lord and faith in my family," Riggs said. "I'm going to spend some quality time with them right now and hope everything works out."

In his first three full-time Cup seasons, Riggs accumulated four top-fives, 14 top-10s and three poles. But an eighth-place finish at Martinsville in 2007 and a seventh at Talladega this fall have been the only bright spots in two seasons of struggling to maintain a position in the standings that delineates the difference between knowing you'll race on Sunday or face the possibility of packing up Friday afternoon.

"I know, the last two years, the positions I've been in -- and unfortunately have not good results -- puts me on a short list," Riggs said. "Now that all the really solid rides have been taken, it's hard to work through. I've got a lot of people talking to me, but I'd rather have had something done by now."

And in a sport where "what have you done lately?" is the first question out of a prospective team owner's mouth, Riggs' recent runs might not elicit much interest. But he said it's been quite the contrary.

"This last week's been pretty crazy with the phones, talking to so many people and everyone pushing and shoving," Riggs said. "People want to throw a contract at you and say, 'Sign it, but you've got to sign it this week or it's void.' Anybody who wants to do that to me, that's not my cup of tea. They should have enough faith in me if they want me to drive their car to offer me a fair deal and we'll work toward it."

If there's one thing Riggs will try to avoid during the winter, it's the urge to get down on himself. But he believes that circumstances out of his control -- changing ownership and the downturn in the economy -- may be more to blame for his current situation than anything he did behind the wheel in 2008.

"That's what I keep telling myself," Riggs said. "The sponsors aren't coming forward. Everybody is pulling back instead of going forward and doing more. Rides are getting harder to find.

"That's been the hard thing is going to some teams, and the changing of hands of ownership, has put me where I am. I just want to make sure where I go the next time is somewhere that's solid and not have to worry about things changing at the top, to make sure I have a home there."