TUCSON, AZ (March 3) – A top-10 finish capped off what was an extremely frustrating weekend for Team NPP in southern Arizona.  Darrell Midgley drove the Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd./Alien Race Cars #81 Dodge to an 8th place finish Saturday night at Tucson Speedway’s 2018 season opener.  “It’s not much to brag about,” exclaims the Sidney, British Columbia driver, “it was a very rough weekend for us.”  Twenty-four hours earlier the mood was more upbeat.  “We were the fastest car on the track in practice Friday.  Things were going well.  Nearing the end of practice the upper link broke.”  The damage caused by the broken part was catastrophic.  “It took out the drive shaft, the transmission, the rear end and the oil lines.  We were at the track past midnight putting the car back together.”  Midgley did not get any practice time on race day.  “It was a lot of work just to get the car running again.  The damage put us so far behind.”  The start of the Pizza Hut 100 Super Late Model race came to a screeching halt early.  A multi-car crash took place on the lap one.  “It seemed like half the field was involved in the wreck,” says Midgley, “I can’t believe you can wreck that many cars on the first lap.”  The race was red flagged for more than half an hour to allow track crews to clean up debris and spilled fluid.  The race resumed after the lengthy delay.  “We got to race.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to go the distance.”  A broken fuel pump forced Midgley to retire to the pits just past the halfway point of the race.  Only about a half dozen cars remained on the track when the checkered flag flew.  The early misfortune of others resulted in Midgley securing his 4th top 10 finish at Tucson Speedway in just 10 starts.  Next race for Darrell Midgley and Team NPP is next month in Washington State.  The Wenatchee Valley Super Oval hosts the Leonard Evans 150 on Saturday, April 28th.