Darnell And The No. 96 Valvoline Team Finish 31st At Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. (November 15, 2009) - Rookie, Erik Darnell took to the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at the Arizona track. After posting respectable times during Friday's first practice session the Valvoline team was optimistic heading into qualifying, however, an early qualifying draw, second, put Darnell at a disadvantage. In spite of improving two tenths over his fastest practice time, Darnell would qualify 39th for Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. The No. 96 crew used Saturday's practice session to work on their race package and Darnell improved 15 positions and posted the 24th fastest time of the day.

Progress in practice gave team No. 96 some much needed confidence heading into Sunday's 500-mile event and from the drop of the green flag it showed. Darnell made his way up to 34th position and maintained a lead lap running position. However, a long green flag run coupled with a poor starting spot put Darnell a lap down on lap 53. Despite the setback, Darnell held his own as he fought to stay in the 'Lucky Dog' contention.

Though Darnell raced clean as he worked to maintain position, an over-zealous competitor took him out during a lap 119 restart. Just after the green flag waved, Darnell's spotter warned that the inside line was checking up. As Darnell slowed down to avoid crashing into the car in front of him, he was rear-end by the car behind him. Though the damage was not terminal, Darnell's No. 96 would need several pit stops to repair the splitter and fenders. Even with a crippled race car, Darnell managed to avoid another multi-car melee involving some of the Chase competitors.

The Valvoline crew would do their best to improve the handling of Darnell's Ford, but the body damage would make that feat next to impossible. When the checkers waved after 312 laps, Darnell was scored in 31st place, six laps down.

"I've been to all of these tracks before in a truck," Darnell said. "This is my first time coming to these tracks in a Cup car. And these cars drive so much different than a truck does that it's a completely new ball game. It takes a lot of getting used to go out there and run one of these cars around here, so it's like I'm learning the tracks all over again. I felt pretty good about today before the race, since we had a decent happy hour. But we didn't qualify well and were lapped early in the race. After that we were wrecked on that restart and things just got tougher for us. The guys did their best, but our hands were tied. We'll regroup and head to Homestead and hopefully finish this season on a better note."

Jimmie Johnson maintained the Championship points lead by claiming the win in Sunday's race. Jeff Burton finished second, Denny Hamlin was third, Mark Martin and Martin Truex, Jr. completed the top five.