EDMONTON, AB. (August 23) – The $100,000 Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series enters the final stretch of the 2006 season this weekend at Castrol Raceway.  With only three scheduled races remaining, all to be run in Edmonton, current point leader Dwight Kennedy can clinch the Series championship this Saturday night.  “The #81 Dodge has been close to perfect all month.  My crew has put me in this position (to win the championship) so now it’s up to me to bring it home.”  The Edson Alberta driver has six Feature wins this year making this one of his best season’s ever behind the wheel of an NPP Late Model Stock Car.  Those six victories have come in the last ten race events.  “I think we were fourth or fifth in the standings when we won our first race of the season back in June,” indicates Kennedy, “that Lethbridge win is the one that really got us going.”  Kennedy last Series championship was back in 2001 but has never finished out of the top five in total points since then.  “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.”  Three-time NPP Series champion Trevor Emond says winning his fourth consecutive title will be extremely tough, “Dwight’s got quite the cushion right now.  I wish we would have had better consistency in Drayton Valley (placing16th and 4th in Features) so we could have kept pace with Dwight.  But we’re still third in points right now and heading back to the track that we’ve had success at over the years (Castrol Raceway).  All we can do now is hope for the best.”  Gerry Emond, Trevor’s father, agrees. “Anything can happen.  Look what happened to me in Drayton Valley last weekend.”  Emond and rookie driver Chris Skelton came together at Rapid Fire Motorsports Park with Skelton’s car coming to rest on top of Emond’s.  “Wrong place at the wrong time,” sigh’s Emond, who remains second in the NPP standings even after the crash.  “We’ll just have to run the wheels off the car the next three races in Edmonton.”  Looking for his first podium finish since 2004 is Darrell Midgley.  “Consistency will be the key for me in Edmonton,” says the Sidney, BC driver, “if we get a win it’s a bonus but keeping the car in the top five at the end each night should put us in pretty good shape.  The challenge is finishing ahead of both Trevor and Gerry each night.  This won’t be an easy task.”  The Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series visited a record six race tracks in 2006.  The chase for the $100,000 points fund began on the road in Rimbey, Alberta back on May 13th.  If Kennedy clinches the championship this Saturday, it would be the first time in Series history that the championship was decided in the month of August.  The remaining NPP race dates are September 9th and 23rd at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway.