Sprague, Riggs fined for Fontana fracas

By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 6, 2001
5:39 PM EST (2239 GMT)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Jack Sprague and season-long title contender Scott Riggs were fined Tuesday by NASCAR for their actions during Sunday’s Auto Club 200 at California Speedway.

Jack Sprague

Sprague, who will be presented his third NCTS champion’s trophy Thursday night in Miami, was fined $5,000 for his part in an altercation that began on the race track and carried over to pit road. Riggs, who led the championship for a good part of the early season, was fined $2,500.

The drivers were fined for violations of section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rule Book, “…actions deemed detrimental to stock truck racing; hitting another competitor’s truck on pit road.”

Scott Riggs

“We were racing three-wide down the back straight,” Sprague said of the incident, which occurred on lap 27 of the 100-lap season finale on the two-mile speedway. “Riggs was on the bottom, Jon Wood was in the middle and I was on the outside.

"I guess Riggs thought he had cleared Wood and moved up a little. They made contact and that sent Riggs right up into me. It was a darn shame to wreck that early in the race because we both had trucks capable of winning.”