NASCAR Daily News Headlines * August 5, 2008

Riggs Left In Limbo

Nevertheless, he persevered and raced up front throughout the Sunoco Red Cross 500 on Sunday for a team he's convinced won't have him back next season. The team he joined at the end of 2007 becomes Stewart-Haas Racing next year, co-owned by two-time Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart. The move has Riggs, for a second time in two years, looking for a new job.

"I just know in my heart I'm not going to be here next year, but not being a big enough man coming to tell me, [new management] must not understand what kind of character I have. If [management] thinks I would lay down behind the wheel if [they]told me ..." said Riggs, frustrated that an announcement has yet to be made regarding the team's future driver lineup.

Next year's driver of the No. 66, which will be switched to the No. 4, has yet to be named but speculation has Penske Racing's Ryan Newman as the top candidate. Regardless of the decision, Riggs said he races like it could be his last, and after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the driver managed to race the No. 66 back into the top 35 in the owner standings.

"I wish someone would wake up and see the character I have and see the leader I can be at a team with some consistency," he said. "That's what's been frustrating at the last two places I've been."

In 2006, Riggs joined Evernham Motorsports only to be what he called "shuffled out" in the summer of 2007 after the team's partnership with George Gillett Jr. was formed, changing the operation to Gillett Evernham Motorsports. His results were mixed and the team failed to qualify for more than a handful of races.

He was to have a new start at Haas CNC Racing where so far this season his average finish has been 25.9 in his 19 races. What looked to be at least a top-10 finish was lost at Pocono when Riggs was forced to save fuel, which proved futile as his machine ran out of gas nearing the end of the race. He finished 29th. His focus for the remainder of the season will be on racing the No. 66 well into the top 35, something that could only help Stewart's ownership transition next season.(nascar.com)

Fellows In No. 01 Car This Week

Fellows will replace regular driver Regan Smith the No. 01 entry. The team sits 32nd in the Cup owners standings, 87 points ahead of the 36th-place team of Michael McDowell. Fellows is an accomplished road racer who has five NASACR national series races at the Glen. Smith is entered in the DEI No. 81, giving the organization five cars in the race. (scenedaily.com)

Iowa Speedway Under Consideration

NASCAR has already said it would not return to Mexico for a fifth race there next year, and speculation was rampant that Iowa would be the replacement.

“I’d say there’s more than two [tracks], but [Iowa is] absolutely one of the tracks under consideration that we’ve had conversations with,” O’Donnell said. “… We definitely want to find a replacement. We will be at the same number of races as last year. We’re still in that process. We’ve got a couple of good candidates. We’re probably about two weeks away from being ready to announce our schedule for ’09.”