When the Craftsman Truck Series resumes this weekend in Kansas after nearly a month off, there is one driver in particular who is looking forward to heading back to The Jayhawk State.

Erik Darnell and his Northern Tool +Equipment Ford F-150 rolled into victory lane last year after leading 92 of the 167 laps in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250. The win gave Darnell his first victory in the Craftsman Truck Series.

"It's always special going back to the place where you picked up your first career truck series win," said Darnell. "I always thought about what it would be like to celebrate in victory lane, and to do at Kansas was an awesome feeling."

With that said though, heading back to Kansas also means Darnell will go into Saturday's race as the defending champion. However, he doesn't feel any added pressure of being last year's champ.  "Just because we're the defending champion, I don't feel like there's any added pressure to go back there and run well. There's pressure every week to run well," explained Darnell.

If the team wants to have another successful run at Kansas, crew chief Matt Puccia says it begins with qualifying. "Since track positioning is so important at this track, we need to qualify up front if we want a good shot of getting back to victory lane," said Puccia. He added that with Kansas and Atlanta similar in track size, they are bringing the same truck they used back in March. The truck tested well before the Atlanta race and Puccia feels it's their best chance at a win.

Darnell currently sits eighth in the standings after four races. His best finish thus far in 2008 is a fifth-place finish in Martinsville.  "Coming off a top-five finish in Martinsville, I hope the momentum carries over to Kansas," said Darnell.

Having that momentum when the green flags drop Saturday evening, may just be what Darnell and his Northern Tool + Equipment team needs to pull off another Kansas performance to remember.