Riggs, Nexxus Lighting Toyota Solider to 30th at Martinsville

Martinsville, Va. (March 29, 2009) – While finishing 30th in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 wasn’t exactly the plan for Scott Riggs and the Nexxus Lighting Racing team, the end result still proved effective for the No. 36 Toyota and his Tommy Baldwin-led team.

Despite ending up just outside the top 25 Sunday at the paper-clipped oval, Riggs jumped one spot to, 40th, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owners’ point standing and sits a slim 32 points behind the No. 28 entry in 39th.

At the same time, 35th in the standing is still well within Riggs’ grasp as the Bahama, N.C., native trails Paul Menard by just 123 markers with an abundant 30 races remaining on the 2009 calendar.

On Friday, qualifying was cancelled due to rain in the area, forcing NASCAR to set the field by owner’s points from the 2009 season, placing Riggs 40th on the starting grid.

Rain continued in the Martinsville area Saturday and practice was cancelled forcing Baldwin to take a gamble on the set up heading into Sunday’s 500-lap feature.

Riggs was marred in heavy race traffic in the early going and struggled with a tight-handling machine. Baldwin used the first caution flag of the day, on lap 20, to call his driver to pit road to top off with fuel, bolt on a fresh set of Goodyears, with air pressure adjustments and added two spring rubbers to the right rear.

Two more cautions waved from laps 40-69 and the veteran crew chief continued to make major adjustments to the No. 36 machine. The dedication to get the handling right paid off as Riggs began to run lap times as fast as the top 15.

Over the next 63 laps Riggs worked his way up to 34th but fell one lap down to the leaders on lap 136. However, a caution flag flew two laps later and the No. 36 team was awarded the “Lucky Dog.”

After a routine pit stop, Riggs was listed 32nd for the restart on lap 145. The Nexxus Lighting Toyota continued to get better and the six year veteran was listed 28th when the caution flew on lap 254.

Another round of adjustments were in order and Riggs worked his way up to the 25th spot before the tight-handling conditions returned.
As the race wound down, the four-time NASCAR Nationwide Series winner held his position in and around the top 30. He took the checkered flag 30th in the final rundown.

Jimmie Johnson grabbed his sixth win at Martinsville Speedway with Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top-five finishers.

Next weekend, Riggs and the No. 36 Racing team head west to the Lone Star State. Live coverage of the Samsung 500 from Texas Motor Speedway begins Sunday April 5 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX. The race will also broadcast worldwide on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round seven of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will air live on SPEED Friday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

SCOTT RIGGS QUOTE:
“The No. 36 Nexxus Lighting Toyota was just a little tight all day. I think if we could have practiced a little on Saturday we would have been a top 15 car. However, we were able to gain some points on the top 35 so we just need to keep digging and continuing to finish ahead of all the cars around us in the point standings.”

Tommy Baldwin Racing Announces Hires for Head Engineer, Team Manager for No. 36 Team

Walter Giles to Serve as Head Engineer for TBR, Jennifer Morrell to be Team Manager

Mooresville, N.C. (March 24, 2009) – Tommy Baldwin Racing announced today that two NASCAR veterans will take leadership positions with the team. 

Walter Giles, formerly a race engineer for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI), will serve as TBR’s head engineer.  Jennifer Morrell, formally the team manager for TBR/Evernham Motorsports will serve as team manager. 

“These are two really important hires for our race team,” said Tommy Baldwin, co-owner of TBR.  “Walter Giles brings a ton of technical support to TBR and Jennifer Morrell brings a lot of NASCAR experience on the team management side.  I am very proud to have both of them as part of our team.”

Giles, who has a mechanical engineering degree from Western Sydney Institute in Sydney, Australia, brings to TBR over 32 years of engineering knowledge and driving experience to the team.  
The native of Australia moved to the U.S. over a decade ago after winning more than 200 races and seven championships in various racing series as a driver.  Giles began his NASCAR career working for Richard Jackson Motorsports in 1997.  He made several stops before landing at DEI in 2005.  He was first hired as the race engineer for DEI’s No. 1 car driven by Martin Truex Jr.  In 2007, he was promoted to head of race engineering.  Over the last year, Giles has been the crew chief for Robby Gordon, Marcus Ambrose and Johnny Sauter. 

 “TBR has an incredible amount of potential and I just hope that I can bring the knowledge to help Tommy (Baldwin) take it to the next level,” Giles said.  “I think the more heads we get together the more successful this program will become.  I’m committed to do whatever it takes to help Tommy succeed. “

Morrell, who has a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management, joins TBR with over nine years of management experience.  She worked as a team manager for Baldwin’s team from 2003-2005 before it was sold to Evernham Motorsports.  Most recently, she worked for Hay Distribution as a business manager. 

“I am excited about getting back into the racing world,” Morrell said.  “When I heard Tommy had started a Cup team I was kind of waiting for this call. I just hope that I can take some of the workload off Tommy’s shoulders so he can focus on running competitively.”

Nexxus Lighting Set to Sponsor TBR at Bristol

MarkMartin.com Becomes First Small Business Supporter of Tommy Baldwin Racing at Southern National Speedway.