A weather system that moved through the Kansas City area yesterday spawned several minor tornados, but the only tornado in the region today was Roush Fenway Racing's Erik Darnell as he dominated the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the Kansas Speedway to score his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. The performance was so dominant that he did something almost as mythical in NASCAR competition as the Land of Oz: he won by over 10 seconds. Darnell's official margin of victory over second-place finisher Rick Crawford was 10.440 seconds.

Darnell's win completed a stellar weekend for the second-year driver out of Beach Park, Illinois. He also finished second in yesterday's ARCA REMAX Series race.

"I think all of the laps I got yesterday in the ARCA race helped me out today just because I was able to get a feel for what the truck was going to do later in the afternoon," the winner said in victory lane. "It also let us get a feel for what the track was going to do as far as the second groove coming in. It was disappointing not to win yesterday. We just weren't where we needed to be. But with the truck tonight, we were spot on and I think it showed."

Darnell was one of the few drivers to step to the outside groove and make up ground.

Darnell, No 99 Northern Tool and Equipment Ford F-150, takes the outside groove on Karaig Kinser, No. 47 VFW Ginn Resorts Chevy at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

"I had to come from the back (after an unapproved adjustment in the impound period) and the outside groove came into play quite a bit," Darnell said. "I was able to go to the high side and get around trucks pretty easily. I was three wide a couple of times in the beginning trying to make my way up through there. I think because we ran it quite a bit yesterday we got some rubber laid down and there were some guys up there running it. I'm happy to see that because this place is a lot racier than it was in the past."

While the driver

The  No 99 Northern Tool and Equipment Ford F-150 Team celebrates in the winner's circle at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

no doubt played a role in getting the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford to victory lane, Darnell downplayed his role; instead he directed the credit to crew chief John Quinn and the rest of the team.

"I was just holding the steering wheel," Darnell said. "This all goes to John Quinn and the crew. They are the ones who built the truck and made it as strong as it was. We've been working hard on this coil binding stuff, and it's definitely paid off."

Distant in Darnell's rear view was runner up Rick Crawford, who finished second at Kansas for the second consecutive year.

"A Roush truck beat a Roush engine," Crawford said. "You can't say that the track owed us one either because we raced hard. It was a tough day for the team. We made an adjustment with 45 laps to go and we went the rest of the day. That was the adjustment that got the truck to where we could run where we were."

Jack Sprague finished third in the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota. Sprague made up several positions late in the race and may have had the fastest truck down the stretch, but there was nothing he could do to close the gap on Darnell and Crawford.

"It took me too long on the run to get going," Sprague said. The long green runs were good for me. We had a good run at Atlanta going and broke the shifter and then we got wrecked at Martinsville, but we've run good all year. Erik deserved to win the race. I've said on and on I have a lot of respect for him and I hope he has a big night tonight."

Darnell's victory put the brakes on Mike Skinner's three-race win streak. The 1995 series champion was shut out of a record-breaking fourth consecutive win, but he did end up with a fifth-place finish, extending his unofficial points advantage to 108 points over defending series champion Todd Bodine. Skinner started from the pole for the third consecutive race in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota and was the dominant force early in the going, building up a three-second advantage on two separate occasions. However, he fell behind Sprague on a round of green flag pit stops at lap 59 and was never able to work his way back to the front.

Johnny Benson finished fourth after a mid-race tangle off turn two with Kelly Sutton. Benson fought the handle of his No. 23 360 OTC Toyota before looping it off the second corner and ricocheting off Sutton, sending her into the infield. Benson's incident was one of five that slowed the action on the day. Clay Rogers spun off turn two on lap 8, and Travis Kittleson spun and then popped the turn three wall on lap 21 to bring out the first two cautions of the afternoon. After Benson's spin on lap 73, Tim Sauter collected the turn one wall on lap 111, and the final caution of the day appeared on lap 121 when Kelly Bires lost an engine and dropped fluid on the front stretch. Bires was having a great day, running in the third position at the time.

Ron Hornaday made a comeback from mid-race pit road problems to finish sixth in the No. 33 AES HR Solutions Chevrolet, Bodine was seventh in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota, Aaron Fike was eighth in the No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota, Terry Cook was ninth in the No. 59 Harris Trucking Toyota, and Matt Crafton rounded out the top ten in the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet.

Crawford sits behind Skinner and Bodine in the championship standings, with Hornaday and Sprague rounding out the top five after five of the 25 races.

In all, there were seven lead changes among five drivers, with the five cautions consuming just 25 of the races 167 laps. Darnell's average speed was the second fastest in Truck Series competition at Kansas Speedway at 124.405 miles per hour.

The next race on the schedule for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the Quaker Steak and Lube 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday May 18. TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, including TrackSideLive! practice updates, Live! Bud Pole Qualifying, and complete race coverage.