NASCAR Wrecks - Riggs Ready To Rock 600
Riggs, Mayfield will share front row for Coca-Cola 600
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
(CONCORD NC- 26 May) -Scott Riggs ran a lap of 187.865 to score the second pole of his career Thursday night at Lowes motor Speedway. He’ll be joined on the front row for Sunday’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 by his Evernham teammate Jeremy Mayfield.
The pole was the first of 2006 for Riggs and will be his first top ten start so far this season.
“The car was absolutely awesome,” Riggs who won last Saturday nights Nextel Open qualifying race said,” We learned a lot from last week and thought we had a real good car last week. There was a lot of grip out there tonight and I didn’t know if it was going to hold up for the pole tonight but I got all I could out of it. I don’t think I could have gotten anymore out of it.”
For second place starter Jeremy Mayfield, his qualifying effort is a shot in the arm for a team that has struggled most of the year.
“I guess everyone knows we switched teams and all that stuff, “Mayfield said referring to a crew swap orchestrated by his boss Ray Evernham made in an attempt to get Mayfield’s team pointed in the right direction.
” It’s been a hard struggle for me, coming back and starting all over again pretty much with not a new group of guys, but it pretty much is. Chris (team director Chris Andrews) has been there and done a great job. Basically we started with a new race team and we’ve been trying to figure each other out and that’s been pretty much the problem. I feel like last weekend was the turning point for our season really. We finally found out what each other were talking about.”
One of the biggest surprises of qualifying was Jimmie Johnson. After a miserable afternoon that saw Johnson wreck his primary Busch car and find enough speed to register only 32nd on the Nextel Cup series practice charts, Johnson admitted that he was worried prior to his qualifying run.
The driver who has been the dominant car here and is favored to win again Sunday managed to qualify third.
“I'm just as shocked as everyone else,” Johnson admitted. “We have a great set up, a great car here and a great feel for this track but for whatever reason at night time is when we shine. In practice we were real loose, real out of control. I almost threw this car a way a couple of times.
I've had my difficulties when the sun is out but for whatever reason when the sun goes down we fly and have a great race car."
Rookie J.J. Yeley, who also crashed in practice, will start fourth in a backup car.
"Yeah, I'm still pretty disappointed that I crashed the car (during practice), “Yeley said. “This was only my second time in my short NASCAR Cup career that I've had to bring a back-up car out before I even got to qualify. I don't like tearing up equipment because I know someone back at the shop is going to have to fix it. But the only way I can do something good is to go out there and do something good now."
Kevin Harvick, who finished second in last weeks All-Star Challenge, will roll off fifth.
"Our Reese's Chevrolet did pretty good in practice,” Harvick said. “We scuffed all our tires and made a qualifying run. We had a great race last week with our GM Goodwrench Chevrolet and hopefully we can do one better this week."
A total of 53 cars made vied for the 43 starting positions, among those who did not qualify was Michael Waltrip. The last time Waltrip failed to qualify for a Cup race was at Phoenix in 1998. In fact the last time a NASCAR Cup series race was run without a Waltrip participating was in 1975.
For Riggs though he now sits his sights on the big prize of the weekend, the Coca-Cola 600.
“We didn’t come out here to sit on the pole we came out here to win the race,” said Riggs.
Matt Kenseth later took the pole for Saturday’s Busch Series race with a lap on 184.011 with Jamie McMurray second.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
(CONCORD NC- 26 May) -Scott Riggs ran a lap of 187.865 to score the second pole of his career Thursday night at Lowes motor Speedway. He’ll be joined on the front row for Sunday’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 by his Evernham teammate Jeremy Mayfield.
The pole was the first of 2006 for Riggs and will be his first top ten start so far this season.
“The car was absolutely awesome,” Riggs who won last Saturday nights Nextel Open qualifying race said,” We learned a lot from last week and thought we had a real good car last week. There was a lot of grip out there tonight and I didn’t know if it was going to hold up for the pole tonight but I got all I could out of it. I don’t think I could have gotten anymore out of it.”
For second place starter Jeremy Mayfield, his qualifying effort is a shot in the arm for a team that has struggled most of the year.
“I guess everyone knows we switched teams and all that stuff, “Mayfield said referring to a crew swap orchestrated by his boss Ray Evernham made in an attempt to get Mayfield’s team pointed in the right direction.
” It’s been a hard struggle for me, coming back and starting all over again pretty much with not a new group of guys, but it pretty much is. Chris (team director Chris Andrews) has been there and done a great job. Basically we started with a new race team and we’ve been trying to figure each other out and that’s been pretty much the problem. I feel like last weekend was the turning point for our season really. We finally found out what each other were talking about.”
One of the biggest surprises of qualifying was Jimmie Johnson. After a miserable afternoon that saw Johnson wreck his primary Busch car and find enough speed to register only 32nd on the Nextel Cup series practice charts, Johnson admitted that he was worried prior to his qualifying run.
The driver who has been the dominant car here and is favored to win again Sunday managed to qualify third.
“I'm just as shocked as everyone else,” Johnson admitted. “We have a great set up, a great car here and a great feel for this track but for whatever reason at night time is when we shine. In practice we were real loose, real out of control. I almost threw this car a way a couple of times.
I've had my difficulties when the sun is out but for whatever reason when the sun goes down we fly and have a great race car."
Rookie J.J. Yeley, who also crashed in practice, will start fourth in a backup car.
"Yeah, I'm still pretty disappointed that I crashed the car (during practice), “Yeley said. “This was only my second time in my short NASCAR Cup career that I've had to bring a back-up car out before I even got to qualify. I don't like tearing up equipment because I know someone back at the shop is going to have to fix it. But the only way I can do something good is to go out there and do something good now."
Kevin Harvick, who finished second in last weeks All-Star Challenge, will roll off fifth.
"Our Reese's Chevrolet did pretty good in practice,” Harvick said. “We scuffed all our tires and made a qualifying run. We had a great race last week with our GM Goodwrench Chevrolet and hopefully we can do one better this week."
A total of 53 cars made vied for the 43 starting positions, among those who did not qualify was Michael Waltrip. The last time Waltrip failed to qualify for a Cup race was at Phoenix in 1998. In fact the last time a NASCAR Cup series race was run without a Waltrip participating was in 1975.
For Riggs though he now sits his sights on the big prize of the weekend, the Coca-Cola 600.
“We didn’t come out here to sit on the pole we came out here to win the race,” said Riggs.
Matt Kenseth later took the pole for Saturday’s Busch Series race with a lap on 184.011 with Jamie McMurray second.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
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