Winston Salem, NC – Jeff Riggs waved the green flag for his new driver today from the flag stand at Bowman Gray Stadium, and his new driver took his first ever lap behind a wheel of a modified around the historic quarter mile.

Twenty year old Andy Seuss of Hampstead, New Hampshire will be the new driver of the Advance Auto Parts, Shell Racing Oils Dodge and will run for the 2008 Sunoco Rookie of the Year award, as well as chasing the Whelen Southern Modified Tour Championship.

"I just want to thank Riggs Racing, Advance Auto Parts, Shell Racing Oils and Dodge. I didn't really have this in my wildest dreams until I got the phone call. I always thought that someday I dreamed about maybe being a teammate to Junior (Miller) in a back up car in a race or two but never thought about filling a seat vacated by a king" Seuss commented after climbing out of the Advance Auto Parts show car supplied by Bowman Gray Stadium.

"Even in up in New Hampshire, we'd hear about all the success. So Junior was definitely one of the ones that I kept my eye on when I came down here to do a few races in my family car. We followed him a lot of times and he wasn't always the fastest guy in practice, but he was always there at the end passing us, so I want to thank you guys for coming down here and sharing this opportunity with me."

Car Co-Owner Jeff Riggs beamed with excitement and pride as his new driver fielded questions from the media gathered at the Stadium. I asked him what made him choose Andy over other drivers that were rumored to be in the running for the seat vacated by the two-time Whelen Southern Modified Tour Champion.

"Looking at Andy, his father and his whole team. They're a real family oriented team just like we are at Riggs Racing. Some of the other guys that I had talked to were already in pretty good shape and I didn't see them advancing any by being with us," he added.

"I looked at Andy for a couple of years and just by watching him, I liked what I saw. He's aggressive, but not aggressive enough to take anybody out and I like his style. I like his family and the way they operate and there's a whole lot of similarities between us."

One of the biggest challenged Seuss will face is the race his new sponsors hosts at Bowman Gray in the Advance Auto Parts 199. I asked Jeff Riggs if they would make any appearances at the stadium before the 199 to get his new driver acclimated to the tricky, tight bullring.

"I'm sure we'll come down together at least once and race because this is a big adjustment here. It's a great facility and the fans are unmatched anywhere else. But yes, we'll definitely get together and run at least one before the 199."

Many inside the Whelen Southern Modified Tour did not know that Andy was already on the Riggs Racing radar long before the end of the 2007 racing season. Seuss approached me at Greenville-Pickens earlier in the spring and asked me if I thought the offer was genuine. So, I asked him to take me back through the process and relate how it all came about.

"Well, you know it was exciting when Jeff approached me and asked me if I would be interested in doing something at Martinsville and I never got close enough to getting fitted in the car or anything but just that conversation alone had me tickled pink and had me pretty excited come Martinsville. They were concerned that they had a race two days later at Ace Speedway and they didn't want to end up with two wrecked cars, which we all know you can do that in this sport. So, it was understandable and it left me guessing, "When's going to be my next shot?" I thought that was going to be my big shot at impressing Riggs Racing and Jeff saw me again at the North South Shootout and just said "Keep in touch" and when I told him I wanted to do it, he said "Let's do it."

Finally, the Riggs team loses their famous number sixty-nine as it goes with their former driver, Junior Miller. The media assembled asked Jeff what the significance of the new number forty-seven means to him.

"I thought about that this morning" explained Riggs. "Some of my heroes drove a four and one of them drove a seven. Bob Garbarino (that just won the northern tour) was always number four and the year that we won Martinsville, he came over and adjusted my valves for me because my dad was still at work. We went on to win and Bugs Stevens was driving for him and he finished second. The other one was Tommy Baldwin. So, there you go, Forty-seven."

Seuss made it known this opportunity is his priority in 2008. "There are some conflicting dates (with the True Value Modified Racing Series), but I'm committed to Riggs Racing and Advance Auto Parts. This is going to be my priority. We're shooting for points in this series this year and we're going to be doing as much racing at home as possible and the True Value Modified Series has been great to me and I'm going to continue to support them as much."