THE NEWS CAME THIS WEEK. HOW DID
YOU FIND OUT THAT SCOTT RIGGS HAD BEEN HIRED? “Well,
they told me Thursday that I wouldn’t be back with the 10
car, and that’s fine. It was one of those deals where they
wanted to make a change, and I think there are other changes
going on there at the shop with some ownership program or
something like that. I was a little surprised, but by the
same token I’m looking forward to next year. I have another
year left on my deal, but I’m still looking forward to next
year and finding a good ride.”
WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES?
“They pretty much just said they had somebody signed to come
into the car and at that point in time they had to work on
me getting out of the car. I think they had somebody signed
when it came time to move me out. That’s cool. That’s how
the business works. Hopefully I can find something that is
going to be worthwhile. If not, I’m not sure what I’ll do.
Maybe I’ll just hang out. I want to make sure I’m in
something that’s decent. I really kind of wish they had said
something in June as opposed to now, but I can’t control
that.”
YOU WON 30 RACES AGO. IS THIS A
SURPRISE? “It is. We have 13 top-five finishes and a win
for them in the last not too long here, so I guess part of
it is a shock. But they need to run it how they see fit and
I can’t do anything about it. They decided they needed
somebody else. I guess I didn’t actually ask why, because I
can’t change it. We’ll just deal with it.”
ANYTHING IN THE FIRE AS YET?
“I’ve only had seven days to work on it. I’ve talked to a
couple of people, but there’s either people already in the
car or circumstances that have not allowed them to move
forward on different things. There again, this is awful late
for them too. It’s not the best time of year to be doing
this. I think we’ll be fine in the future, and if not, I
still have a year left on my deal and they’re working that
out right now. We’ll go on from here.”
