Darnell - Ford interview 2008-11-11

This Week in Ford Racing

Erik Darnell, driver of the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150, is the top Ford Racing driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heading into the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Darnell sits fourth in the series' points standings.

"I really like racing at Homestead. I think that's one of my favorite tracks on the schedule. I generally tend to like the mile-and-a-half tracks anyway. Homestead is a lot of fun. It's progressively banked. Ever since they re- did it, you can run on the bottom, run on the top, pretty much go wherever. It has a little bit tighter corners than your typical mile-and-a-half tracks. It's just a lot of fun. I finished third there in my rookie year. We struggled a little bit there last year. I feel like we're going to have a really good truck for this coming weekend. It's the same one we won Michigan with and ran very well at the mile-and-a-half tracks with it. I think we'll be pretty good when we go down there."

MORE ON HOMESTEAD. "It's a mile-and-a-half, which is what I like. It's different than most other mile-and-a-halves and the fact that the corners are a lot tighter than a Texas or Vegas. It doesn't have the traditional dog-leg frontstretch like you have at a lot of those places. It's more of an oval, you could say. It's just a lot of fun to drive. You can run on the bottom, you can run on the top, run wherever you want and it makes it fun."

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN FOR YOU TO WIN THE FORD 200? "It would mean a lot. We were close in our rookie year, we finished third, but our teammate Mark Martin won the race, which was good. It's just a big weekend for Ford in general. Roush has had a lot of success there over the years, whether it's been in Truck, Nationwide or Cup. Biffle has won a ton of races down there. It just means a lot to be racing for Ford, especially on their Championship Weekend."

SINCE GREG BIFFLE HAS WON THERE, DO YOU RELY ON THEIR FEEDBACK? "Yeah, I'll go down to the Cup Series practice or Nationwide Series practice while we don't have anything going on and talk to those guys a little bit. If I'm struggling with something, they can definitely give me some help, with whatever I may need. I don't necessarily think they've run the trucks there on the newer configuration, but anytime you're good on the track, you can give some advice and those guys have definitely helped me out."

-credit: ford racing