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  Scott Riggs
Car number: 10 • Manufacturer: Dodge • Sponsor: Valvoline
Owner: Ray Evernham • Team: Evernham Motorsports • Team Director: Rodney Childers

Doug Murray/WireImage.com
2006 Season
Final Points Standing20th
After First 26 Races18th
Earnings$3,773,674
Starts35
Poles2
Wins0
Top 51
6-107
Laps Led132
Lead Lap Finishes24
Bonus Points25
Races Led5
2007 Spin
Scott Riggs made the transition into Dodge sheet metal with Evernham Motorsports last season and will look to build on what has to be considered his most solid year to date. Although the team failed to register a win, it had a handful of impressive runs. The problem with the majority of those runs is that Riggs did not finish strong.

Except for the road courses, Riggs can perform well on any track. Before the team went into R&D mode during the Chase, Riggs recorded 21 lead-lap finishes in his 25 starts.

The intermediates seem to be his strong suit, and that fits in well with Ray Evernham's operation. If this group can take a little more from Kasey Kahne's team, it could possibly notch that first career win at a track like Atlanta or Lowe's.

It is hard to foresee how Riggs will perform in the Car of Tomorrow. With two above-average teammates in Kahne and Elliott Sadler, the abundance of information, opinions and note-sharing should not be in question. Our guess is you won't see much of a difference in this team's results.

The 2007 season could be a breakout year of sorts for the Valvoline crew. Last season's front row start and top 10 finish at Homestead was the perfect momentum-builder for '07. Riggs' fourth-place showing at Bristol was impressive as well. His closing-laps battle with Jeff Gordon - and the subsequent bump and run - proved Riggs has the fire to compete. More impressive was the manner in which he made the move.

If this team can come out of the gate strong and solve its inconsistency issues, Riggs could bust up our rankings. We're going with a possible win on an intermediate and 10 to 12 top 10s.


2006 Recap
In case you didn't hear Mike Joy or Bill Weber mention it, Scott Riggs failed to make the 2006 Daytona 500 due to a broken gear in qualifying and a bad pit stop in his Gatorade Duel race. Not good for a driver who brought with him a big-money sponsor to a powerhouse organization.

To its credit, the crew handled the adversity well and blossomed into a decent team by season's end. In fact, Riggs finished ahead of 13 drivers in the point standings who started all 36 events.

Perhaps the most noticeable bullet point in Riggs' season was that he took good care of his equipment. In the previous two campaigns, Riggs had a tendency to trash a lot of cars. The turnaround in 2006 was marked. This newfound poise and maturity helped him gain the respect from his competitors it takes to run up front on a weekly basis.

Also of note is that the Evernham aero package seemed to mesh well with Riggs' driving style. A comfortable driver is a better driver.

• The Good: Laying the bumper to Jeff Gordon in the appropriate manner at Bristol to bring 'er home fourth may have been his shining moment. Although a win was out of reach, Scott Riggs was racing, not cruising.

• The Bad: Riggs tapped Casey Mears on the first lap at the June Pocono race, sending Mears to the garage. Mears finished 43rd, Riggs eighth. Oops.

• The Ugly: At the fall Dover event Riggs missed a shift in qualifying, which cooked the engine. He had to start at the rear of the field and wrecked 104 laps short of the checkered flag, finishing 34th and dropping a spot in the standings.


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