Earlier this week, it was announced driver Scott Riggs and Tommy Baldwin Racing would part ways. Tuesday, HardcoreRaceFans.com caught up with Riggs who explained his decision to leave the team early in the 2009 season.

“The way they were going and the direction is just not the way I want to go in my career,” Riggs told HardcoreRaceFans.com Tuesday afternoon. “I work too hard behind the wheel and do a good job and I’m a racer at heart. I feel like I need to be racing, I don’t need to be qualifying and parking. I just need to do something different.”

While he does not have anything lined up to replace his ride with Tommy Baldwin Racing, Riggs appeared confident something would surface. Since joining the Cup ranks in 2004, Riggs has amassed 175 starts, four top-5s and sixteen top-10 finishes.

"I want to go somewhere where I can be racing," Riggs added. "I want to be racing no matter what it is. I prefer it to be in the Cup Series because the cars right now that we’re racing are what I know and I’m used to. I’d rather stay in the Cup Series, but just starting and parking is not working for me mentally more than anything else."

This year, the North Carolina-native has failed to qualify for four events and has a best finish of 25th in the season-opening Daytona 500. In the last four races, Riggs has three DNFs. The No. 36 Toyota was caught up in an early wreck at Talladega, however at Richmond and Darlington, the team fell out early less than halfway into the races.

"It’s been coming for about a month," Riggs admitted. "I’ve been thinking about it, contemplating on it and it just finally came to a head where it was time, just time to stop."

In his final race for Tommy Baldwin, Riggs ran the entire event and finished two laps down in 38th.

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