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As the sun set over the beautiful Arizona desert, Rip Michels
reflected on the day’s accomplishment. The Stock Building
Supply/Ladco Racing/Victory Circle Chevrolet ended up with an 8th
place finish in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Southwest Division at
Phoenix International Raceway.
The team’s main goal was to qualify in the top 20 and finish in the
top 10. Rip qualified his Chevrolet in the 9th position with a lap
time of 28.002. During the race Rip had made his way up to the 5th
position with a two-second lead over the 6th place car.
Unfortunately, Rip had some problems with lap traffic that caused
his two-second lead over 6th place to fade, which resulted in Rip
losing three positions.
“It seemed like a lifetime ago when we came here for the first time
in January. It was the first race of the season as a rookie,” said
Rip. “We were a rookie team with a rookie driver, and it showed.
We qualified 41st and had to come through the b-main for the final
transfer position. We started dead last on the grid and ended up
31st, 4 laps down. We felt that we would be better coming back to
PIR this time around. It was a good test to show how far we had
come as a team, we as a team are very pleased with our 8th place
performance,” commented Rip.
“My inexperience on how to pass on this track really caused us a
problem. I had two lap cars battling side by side and just could
not figure out a way to pass them. Late in the race it cost us a
few positions,” said Rip.
“This season our team has really come together,” said Boyd “Chip”
Brown Jr., Shop Foreman, “Everyone has really worked hard to get
our program to where it is today,” commented Chip.
Rip was the leading rookie of the race for the 7th time this season
and currently leads the rookie point standings with 104 points.
For more information on Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit
www.ripmichels.com
Source: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc. |
