No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 driver Erik Darnell. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Erik Darnell, driver of the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, is pulling double duty this weekend at Kansas Speedway as Roush Fenway Racing debuts its ARCA RE/MAX Series team. Darnell, who heads into this weekend's truck race 12th in the point standings, talks about his involvement with the start-up ARCA team and his truck season to date.

Erik Darnell No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150
It's been nearly a month since the Truck Series last competed. Is it tough coming off a four-week break? "It's definitely a little tough. I hate that in the beginning of the season the trucks go for so long in between races. I've been staying busy, though. I've been testing a little bit and actually went home this weekend and ran a Late Model in Wisconsin. I've been staying in the driver's seat."

This weekend marks the debut of Roush Fenway Racing's ARCA Team. Will the ARCA race help get you back in a rhythm after the break? "I actually got to go out to Kansas and test an ARCA car last week. I've got a little bit of track time there already this year, which is definitely going to help me going back there this weekend."

You've been tapped to drive Roush Fenway's ARCA entry this weekend. Are you comfortable in that role as this is a start-up team? "I think so. This is a new endeavor for Roush, but just knowing that the equipment is coming out of the Roush shop gives me all the confidence I need. We've got Jeff Campey as the crew chief. Jeff's been around racing and Roush for a long time and knows what's going on, and I think we had a pretty successful test out at Kansas. I know I'm in good equipment and I've got a year under my belt in the truck series now, which has kind of got me going on this speedway stuff, and I don't really think it will be too much of a problem getting the ARCA car up and running."

With the ARCA team competing on a limited basis, what are the expectations? "Just to win races. I think this team is very capable of putting together a car that can run up front and contend for wins. With the equipment that I'm in - proven cars that have been raced on Cup side - I don't think there's any excuse why we wouldn't be up front."

Is Roush planning to use the ARCA team to groom crew members as well as drivers? "Well, in talking with the guys, we've got some guys from the No. 60 No Fear car, Boris Said's deal, working on it. Jeff's been trying to get some experienced people over there as well. We've got a pretty good guy for a car chief, and at least for now, it's a good start for us. When we go to Kansas, we're going to have my NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team pitting the car, so we should be good to go for the first couple of races. Further down the road, they might use this to develop crew guys as well, but I'm not really sure."

Comment on the first four races of your Truck Series season. "We're struggling a little bit this year. I think all three of the Roush trucks are struggling, and we're missing something and I don't know exactly what it is. You look at the points right now and me and Travis are ninth and 12th. I don't even have a top-10 yet this year. The way we finished last year, we went on a pretty good run there at the end of the year. The last five races we had all top-10s and a couple of top-fives, and I thought that would give us some momentum coming into this year. We went to Daytona and led a couple of laps, but since then it's kind of been downhill from there. We haven't had any good finishes and we've had some bad luck, and we need to get this turned around pretty quick."

The Toyotas will be using a new manifold this weekend. Will that level the playing field for the rest of the manufacturers? "Yeah, you'd like to think so, but the Toyotas have been really tough this year. Mike Skinner has been extremely tough, and I hope it levels the playing field a little bit. But, on the other side of that, we just have to get our program up to speed here because we haven't been where we need to be this year; none of the Roush trucks have."

Where is the greatest need for improvement with your team? "I think our speedway stuff has been pretty good. I think the mile-and-a-half stuff has been our weak spot this year. I thought our short track stuff - just from the one race so far - was all right. We had a pretty decent truck at Martinsville, but just ended up having a lot of stuff happen out there on the track. We got spun out and then got wrecked, and I think Travis was about the same way. But, our mile-and-a-half stuff and two-mile stuff, we struggled at California and Atlanta, and we have to figure out what's going on there to get this turned around."

Does having a veteran like Travis Kvapil help address the issues? "I think so. I like that both Travis and myself come from similar backgrounds, racing Late Models in Wisconsin. We have hit it off pretty well. I've been able to go to him and talk to him about things. He's a past winner and a past champion in the truck series, so he can definitely give me some good advice with the trucks and that's kind of helped me out. It's similar to having Mark Martin here last year as a mentor to help me, and now we've got Travis this year, and I think that's going to bring good things to this program this year."