Erik Darnell

Erik Louis Darnell (born December 2, 1982) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is the grandson of former USAC and NASCAR driver Bay Darnell, who also started three NASCAR races (including one for Holman Moody). Darnell formerly drove for Roush Fenway Racing, joining the team in 2005 after being a co-winner on the Discovery Channel program Roush Racing: Driver X, along with David Ragan.

Racing career Early career

Darnell began racing at the age of twelve in the River Valley Kart Club. He won the championship in the purple plate class in his second year of competition, later racing Allison Legacy Series cars after go karts. His first year of super late models was at Illiana Motor Speedway, with Darnell finishing third in the final standings with one win. Erik beat the best Wisconsin super late model drivers to win the 2003 Wisconsin Challenge Series championship. At that time, his five wins were the most in the series' history. He set the super late model track record at Lake Geneva Raceway in 2004.

2004–2012: NASCAR and ARCA Darnell drove in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Milwaukee in 2004, finishing 26th. He also raced in numerous NASCAR touring series races.

Darnell drove in several NASCAR touring series and six ARCA races in 2005.

Darnell raced full-time in the Truck Series in 2006. He had twelve top-ten finishes in 25 events, and he was the series' Rookie of the Year. He continued to drive for the team in 2007, as well as testing the team's Busch Series cars. On April 28, 2007, Darnell won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway for his first Truck Series win.

Darnell started the 2008 season by capturing the pole position at the Daytona International Speedway. He won his second career CTS race in June 2008 at Michigan International Speedway by .005 of a second over Johnny Benson.

For 2009, Darnell planned to compete in 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series races, sharing the car with Cup Series driver David Ragan, and would also run for Rookie of the Year. The first race on his schedule was at Richmond International Raceway where he finished twelfth. Also, Darnell competed in seven of the final eleven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. He ran the car at Atlanta, Loudon, Kansas, Talladega, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead. Darnell competed in the No. 96 Academy Sports + Outdoors Ford for the Atlanta, Talladega, and Texas races. He alternated the ride with Bobby Labonte.

In 2010, Darnell found himself without a ride for most of the season due to the lack of sponsorship. He continued to stay on at Roush Fenway Racing as a practice-qualifying driver for Carl Edwards at the standalone Nationwide Series races. Darnell did a three race deal to drive Roush's No. 16 Ford in the Nationwide Series. His best finish was fourteenth at Dover and Texas.

In 2011, Darnell returned to the Cup Series, driving for Whitney Motorsports in several races. In 2012, he competed for The Motorsports Group (formerly Key Motorsports) in the Nationwide Series.

2013–present: Post-NASCAR career

Darnell didn't race in NASCAR during 2013. He won the Dick Trickle 99 Super Late Model Oktoberfest race at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in October 2013. He has made occasional starts in various Midwest series since. Darnell led much of the second half of the 2019 Oktoberfest ARCA Midwest Tour race at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway before finishing third behind Ty Majeski.

2021: Return to NASCAR On May 3, 2021, it was revealed through the release of the entry list for the Truck Series race at Darlington that Darnell would drive the No. 45 for Niece Motorsports in that race with sponsorship from his former sponsor at Roush, Northern Tool + Equipment. This would be his first start in NASCAR since 2012 and first in the Truck Series since 2008.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Pts Ref 2009 Hall of Fame Racing 96 Ford DAY CAL LVS ATL BRI MAR TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV POC MCH SON NHA DAY CHI IND POC GLN MCH BRI ATL30 RCH NHA30 DOV KAN29 CAL CLT MAR TAL37 TEX30 PHO31 HOM36 47th 472 2011 Whitney Motorsports 46 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL MAR TEX TAL RCH DAR DOV CLT KAN POC MCH SON DAY KEN NHA39 51st 2 Ford INDDNQ POC42 GLN MCHDNQ BRI ATL Max Q Motorsports 37 RCHDNQ CHI NHA DOV KAN CLT TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM

Nationwide Series NASCAR Nationwide Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 2007 Roush Fenway Racing 6 Ford DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI NSH TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW NHA DAY CHI GTY IRPQL† CGV GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM N/A 0 2008 17 DAY CAL LVS ATL BRI NSH TEX PHO MXC26 TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN 119th 85 60 MLWQL‡ NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP CGV GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 2009 6 DAY CAL LVS BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL RCH12 DAR4 CLT DOV NSH9 KEN11 MLW4 NHA9 DAY CHI GTY10 IRP29 IOW23 GLN MCH BRI CGV12 ATL RCH14 DOV17 KAN18 CAL CLT34 MEM31 TEX PHO HOM31 26th 1837 2010 16 DAY CAL LVS BRI NSH PHO TEX TAL RCH DAR DOV CLT NSH KEN ROA NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGV ATL RCH22 DOV14 KAN CAL CLT TEX14 PHO HOM 82nd 339 60 GTYQL‡ 2011 Key Motorsports 42 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX TAL NSH RCH DAR DOV IOW CLT CHI MCH ROA DAY KEN NHA NSH IRP IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI DOV KAN CLT42 TEXDNQ PHO HOM 113th 01 2012 The Motorsports Group DAYDNQ 17th 558 40 PHO26 LVS35 BRI21 CAL24 TEX23 RCH35 TAL14 DAR29 IOW18 CLT27 DOV27 MCH22 ROA23 KEN25 DAY21 NHA40 CHI30 IND38 IOW27 GLN CGV16 BRI35 ATL20 RCH18 CHI22 KEN24 DOV31 CLT21 KAN17 TEX25 PHO37 HOM35† - Qualified for David Ragan · ‡ - Qualified for Carl Edwards

Camping World Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2004 MRD Motorsports 06 Ford DAY ATL MAR MFD CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW26 KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS CAL TEX MAR PHO DAR HOM 100th 85 2006 Roush Racing 99 DAY6 CAL11 ATL8 MAR11 GTY31 CLT10 MFD13 DOV25 TEX35 MCH12 MLW27 KAN26 KEN9 MEM2 IRP10 NSH12 BRI18 NHA9 LVS17 TAL19 MAR3 ATL3 TEX9 PHO10 HOM3 12th 3136 2007 Roush Fenway Racing DAY12 CAL13 ATL24 MAR18 KAN1* CLT30 MFD15 DOV18 TEX32 MCH26 MLW6 MEM9 KEN29 IRP7 NSH9 BRI13 GTW7 NHA2 LVS5 TAL29 MAR25 ATL26 TEX14 PHO35 HOM24 12th 2875 2008 DAY21 CAL11 ATL12 MAR5 KAN28 CLT4 MFD11 DOV25 TEX24 MCH1 MLW4 MEM2 KEN29 IRP3 NSH2 BRI15 GTW6 NHA4 LVS2* TAL12* MAR19 ATL6 TEX18 PHO7 HOM11 4th 3412 2021 Niece Motorsports 45 Chevy DAY DAY LVS ATL BRI RCH KAN DAR17 COA CLT TEX NSH POC KNX GLN GTW DAR BRI LVS TAL MAR PHO 66th 20

ARCA Re/Max Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Re/Max Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Pts Ref 2005 Roulo Brothers Racing 39 Ford DAY NSH SLM KEN TOL LAN MIL4 POC MCH KAN KEN BLN POC GTW5 LER NSH8 MCH20 ISF TOL DSF CHI32 SLM TAL13 38th 980 2007 Roush Fenway Racing 99 DAY USA NSH SLM KAN2 WIN KEN1* TOL IOW POC MCH1* BLN KEN POC NSH ISF MIL GTW DSF CHI SLM TAL TOL 47th 700

CARS Super Late Model Tour (key) CARS Super Late Model Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts Ref 2017 N/A 7D N/A CON DOM DOM HCY HCY BRIDNQ AND ROU TCM ROU HCY CON SBO N/A 0