HAMPTON, GA. – A freak early morning snow storm wiped out qualifying for drivers in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Saturday morning storm system did clear in time for race action to begin. The temperatures warmed up to only 10C as officials gave the ‘lets go racing’ nod. Canadian DJ Kennington would start his #81 Northern Provincial Pipelines sponsored Dodge in the 34th position. Just a few circuits into the 198 lap race, Kennington would have to pit under green. “The car was running good then it sputtered,” says a frustrated Kennington, “the battery shifted knocking the cable off.” Kennedy returned to the race and stayed out of trouble and finished the race in 34th. “That puts us in 32nd in the point standings. We’d like to be a bit higher in the standings but considering the challenges so far this season we’re fairly happy.” Being 30th or higher in the standings is very important for a small race team like Kennington’s. It guarantees a starting position on race day no matter the qualification position. “We have to be 30th or better in the standings to take advantage of this rule,” says Kennington, “having a guaranteed appearance in the show would take a lot of pressure off this team so were going to have to work real hard to get back into the top 30.” The NPP Race team of DJ Kennington competes at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. “Its one of the few tracks I ran at last year,” indicates the St. Thomas, Ontario driver, “most of the tracks we run at this year will be new for us as a team so at least we can say, yeah, we’ve run Bristol before.” This will be race number five of the 35 event NASCAR Nationwide Series Schedule. “We’ve done pretty well in qualifying…we want to try to have a good run during the race for a change.” Along with Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd., Mahindra Tractors will be on board as major sponsor this weekend in Bristol Tennessee.

Next Nascar Nationwide event:
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Practice: Friday, March 14th (11:40am & 2:45pm – Edmonton time)
Qualifying: Saturday, March 15th (7:40am – Edmonton time)
Race: Saturday March 15th (12:30pm – Edmonton time)