The No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford at Atlanta. (Charles Krall/TruckSeries.com Photo)

If you asked Erik Darnell what track he was most excited about returning to, without hesitation he would have said Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was obvious that the 1.5-mile tri-oval in Hampton was one he had circled on his calendar. Darnell finished eighth there in the spring and intended on finishing better than that the second time around. Darnell accomplished his goal, finishing third for the second time in as many weeks.

The No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford started in the 11th position, but would not have a chance to improve his position before the first caution flew at lap three for an incident involving teammate Mark Martin. Knowing it was too early to assess the performance of his F-150, Darnell opted to wait for more laps to pass before letting his crew know how his truck was handling. Darnell worked his way inside the top-five quickly after the field went back to green flag conditions, showing fifth on the board at lap 24. "I'm real tight," reported Darnell. "I'm having to put so much wheel into it that it's starting to break the back end loose."

Darnell took advantage of a caution period to bring the Northern Tool + Equipment Ford to pit road at lap 42 for tires, fuel and a spring rubber in the right rear. He would restart in the seventh position, and reported after a few laps that his F-150 was still fighting a tight condition.
Despite his handling issues, Darnell was able to gain positions on the track, running as high as third by lap 72. The caution would come out again at lap 78, setting the stage for final pit stops. The No. 99 crew called Darnell to pit road for tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. The Northern Tool + Equipment crew again did a great job and sent Darnell back on track in the fifth position.

Darnell quickly shot up to the second position, but slid back to fourth as another truck took the air off his spoiler. Darnell was able to gather it up and make another charge to the front of the pack, taking the lead at lap 101. Positions would jockey several times over the closing laps, and when the checkered flag fell over the field, Darnell finished third.

"Our Northern Tool + Equipment Ford was good all night," said Darnell. "John Quinn and all the guys gave me a great setup for the race, but we struggled a little bit in practice. It is wild out there at a place like this, high speed, the draft really comes into play with these trucks. I learned a lot running out there with guys like David Reutimann, Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave. We're getting better every week and I think had we had two finishes that we should have at Las Vegas and Talladega we'd be fighting for top-10 in points. We're going to go out and try to get top-fives for the rest of the year. That was our goal here these last couple of races. Our ultimate goals are to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award, and try to get back in the top-10 in points and if we can go out there and get top-fives week in and week out, we've got two in a row now, I think we'll be right there fighting for it."

After the race at Atlanta, Darnell and the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment team sit 14th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings, 162 points out of 10th place. Darnell has been the highest-finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate in 12 of 22 races in 2006, and continues to lead the rookie standings over Chad McCumbee. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competes next at Texas Motor Speedway on November 3.