PHOENIX, AZ – Despite a damaged race car, Canada’s DJ Kennington managed to finish a respectable 29th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. The race featured a record 13 yellow flags, one of which flew on lap number two when Kennington got caught up in a multi car crash. “I had slowed my car down but somebody piled into the back of me,” says the St. Thomas, Ontario driver, “the rear tires of my car were off the ground I got hit so hard.” Kennington immediately drove the #81 Northern Provincial Pipelines Dodge to the garage for repairs. Down several laps, Kennington returned to the race only to have another setback. On lap 50, a left front tire blew on DJ’s car which sent him into the wall.

“Very frustrating at that point,” sighs Kennington, “but Randy McDonald (crew chief) wouldn’t let us quit, he was on us, encouraging us to keep going. Even though we were down laps at the end of the race, it was a small victory for the team to be able finish ahead of where we qualified (34th).” The race in Las Vegas wrapped up an exhausting week for the Canadian race team. “Running in California on Monday due to the rain delay was extremely tough. After finishing the race in 26th (qualified 31st) we worked on the car till midnight then worked on it all day Tuesday and then headed off to Vegas.”

There is a lot of pressure on Kennington and his team as they travel to Atlanta Motor Speedway for race number four of the season this weekend. “Every race we’ve run so far this year we’ve had to qualify. If we are top 30 in the points after the fifth race of the season we will be locked in for the rest of the year. We are 26th in the points right now, so the focus is to qualify well at Atlanta and Bristol then run the tires off the car both races. We need the points. It’s going to be a complete team effort to get to the next level. When we get there it will take a little bit of pressure off.”

Northern Provincial Pipelines, based in Edson, Alberta is proud to be the major sponsor of the #81 Dodge driven by DJ Kennington. Northern Provincial Pipelines is also title sponsor of Canada richest short track touring series…the NPP Late Model Series which brings big league auto racing to Western Canada.