by Erik Darnell, FOXSports.com

Erik Darnell © 2006 Roush Racing (Walter Arce/Action Sports Photography, Inc.)

So far, 2006 has been a great year. It's been a whole new experience for me. I'm adjusting to how racing in one of the top-three series works. This year has been a lot of fun so far, and I couldn't be more excited about the way things are going.

We had a strong run at Daytona to kick off our season. I'd only raced a superspeedway once before, that was at Talladega in the '05 ARCA race. I got down there with the intent of running all the laps and learning as much as I could. We accomplished that goal, and much more.

We were a little disappointed with our qualifying result, but we knew we had a truck that would run great in the race. We were able to overcome some early adversity when the truck overheated, and we were caught a lap down. We lucked out with a caution falling soon after our trouble that allowed us to get our lap back, and we raced them from there. We wound up finishing sixth, and needless to say, everyone was pretty happy with the result.

We went to Daytona with a white truck but got some good news when Woolrich, The Original Outdoor Clothing Company, signed on to sponsor us for the race. It was their first NASCAR sponsorship so it worked out great that we got our first start with Roush Racing together. They really enjoyed being a part of the Craftsman Truck Series, enough that they are looking at doing a larger program with our team. We're looking forward to having some more solid runs for them in the future.

It seemed like as soon as we got off the plane from Daytona, we were off to California. I'd raced Michigan before so I came to Fontana feeling like I'd have that experience to lean on. On the surface, the tracks are identical two-mile ovals. Once you get on the track, it's a little different. We spent practice dialing in the truck and getting familiar with the track. We had a decent qualifying effort and knew that we had a good truck for long green-flag runs. We had the same goals that we did for Daytona, to finish all the laps and get comfortable in the truck. We had great pit stops all night, stayed out of trouble and were able to bring the truck home 11th.

We've got a few weeks off until Atlanta (Fri. March 17, 9 p.m. ET on SPEED), but I know we'll stay plenty busy in the meantime. We've got some appearances scheduled, and we might try to fit in a test somewhere as well. We've had a great start to 2006, and I hope we can continue the momentum forward. We've been the highest-finishing rookie in both races, and that's a real testament to this team and the trucks they bring to the track.

We'll check in again in a few weeks and give you another update.