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 12 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 Erik finishing 3rd in the final standings with 1 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.