As the never-ending adventures continue in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Southwest Series, Rip Michels is happy to be back in the top ten in points.
   After capturing four top tens in five races, the fifth race resulted in an eleventh place finish at El Cajon. July has been very unkind to Rip and his Stock Building Supply/Ladco Racing/Victory Circle Chevrolet.
   "We have been experimenting with our set-ups", said Rip. "We are trying things that we would have never even thought about trying. We feel like we are going in the right direction, but the consistency has not been there." Rip commented.
Rip qualified 6th and due to the invert started 3rd. "Our car had been fighting a loose condition all day. That put us in a bad position because on short tracks you have a tendency to get bumped and banged. Unfortunately for us, we got bumped and spun out," said Rip.
   "We are looking forward to the next five races," said Rip. "We are using the brand new Victory Circle Elite Chassis for the remainder of the season. We debuted that car at Irwindale where we lead the most laps and if not for a late race caution on lap 142, we probably would have won that race. So we know the car is fast and Colorado and Tucson are similar tracks to Irwindale so we expect good things. We are still leading the Autometer Rookie of the year battle by 12 points so we need to have good finishes the rest of the year," said Rip.
   "I want to give out a special thanks to Allen Croll from Penske Racing Shocks who has been helping us with his knowledge and experience, we feel with Allen's help it will help us with our learning curve, said Rip.
   For more information on Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit http://www.ripmichels.com/
Source: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc.