Riggs Claims First Bud Pole of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Career

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 8, 2005) -- Scott Riggs captured the Bud Pole for Sunday's Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It was the first career pole for the sophomore Nextel Cup driver.

Riggs' Valvoline Chevrolet paced the field in Friday's qualifying session with a lap time and speed of 19.588 seconds at 96.671 miles per hour. Ryan Newman was second fastest at 96.657 and Jeremy Mayfield was third at 19.606.

"That's as close as you can be to being out of control and still have a racecar," said Riggs when referring to his pole-running lap. "I thought my second lap was a lot better than my first, so I was really surprised when Doug (Randolph, crew chief) told me the opposite."

"But I'll tell you, it feels great to win a Bud pole, especially because it's the first for this Valvoline team," offered Riggs, who has had previous success at Martinsville, including his first NASCAR win in 2001 as a driver in the Craftsman Truck Series. "This team has worked awful hard all season long and our results have really shown it. I'm so proud of all the guys and how far we've come since last year.

"We're not going to set our goals too high and say we're the man to beat, but we are going to keep on digging as hard as we can every single week. I think we not only keep impressing people and showing them we're a force to be reckon with, but we keep helping out our own confidence as well. Right now everyone is having fun and smiling.

"Sooner or later if you run up front you're going to win a race and there's nothing more this team would rather do than to take the checkered flag. Neither me or the team will be surprised when, not if, we win a race-- you may see some smiles you can't wipe off with Ajax, but we certainly wouldn't be surprised."

Sunday's Nextel Cup event will be televised on FOX, beginning with a prerace show at 12:30 p.m. EDT.