| Stephen Leicht | |||||||
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| Born | January 9, 1987 Asheville, North Carolina |
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| Achievements | 2005 American Speed Association Late Model national champion | ||||||
| Awards |
2000 Motorsports Magazine's Rising Star of the Year 2003 ARA Rookie of the Year |
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| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career | |||||||
| First race | 2006 Pennsylvania 500 (Pocono) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 (Richmond) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Nationwide Series career | |||||||
| 2009 position | 43rd | ||||||
| Best finish | 7th - 2007 (Busch Series) | ||||||
| First race | 2005 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis) | ||||||
| First win | 2007 Meijer 300 presented by Oreo (Kentucky) | ||||||
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| Statistics current as of February 24, 2010. | |||||||
Stephen Leicht (born January 9, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina) is an American stock car driver. He is currently a free agent. He has over 150 feature event wins in quarter midgets and go-karts.
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When he was seven years old, he began racing quarter midgets, and began advancing into go-karts. At the age of 11, Leicht was participating in the Go Kart Nationals, when he collided with the flag stand and was sent flying from his racecar. He suffered a burst spleen as a result of the accident, and was kept out of racing for six months.
At the age of 12, he began racing stock cars, and got his GED to focus full-time on racing, and was named Motorsports Magazine''s Rising Star of the Year in 2000. At the age of 15, he ran his first full year in the American Racing Association, and was named Rookie of the Year.
In 2005, he moved to Wisconsin to work with veteran American Speed Association crew chief Howie Lettow.[1] Leicht collected five wins en route to winning the national championship in the American Speed Association Late Model series for WalTom Racing.[1] He won both races that he attempted in the American StockCar League. He finished first or second in thirteen of sixteen events that entered between the two series. He started eighth in his Busch series debut at Memphis Motorsports Park, and finished thirteenth. He ran another race at Phoenix, starting seventeenth and finishing nineteenth.
In 2006, Leicht ran ARCA RE/MAX Series events for Yates Racing and WalTom Racing. He earned his first career ARCA series win in his second career start at Nashville Superspeedway in April. [1]. He also made four Busch series starts in 2006, posting two top-ten qualifying efforts. On July 23, he made his first Nextel Cup start in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, qualifying 36th and finishing 33rd, one lap behind.
In 2007, Leicht ran the full NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) schedule. He won his first race at Kentucky Speedway and finished 7th in the final drivers points ranking. At the end of the season, Robert Yates Racing released Leicht from his contract because of sponsorship and finance issues. 2008 saw Leicht land a part-time stint in Richard Childress's #21 Nationwide car, sharing driving duties with Bobby Labonte. Leicht ran 4 races with a best finish of 7th at Phoenix International Raceway. However, after Talladega, a lack of sponsorship sidelined Leicht until Texas in the fall, where he finished 18th.
In 2009, Stephen Leicht will drive the #29 Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Chevrolet Impala in 13 races. Leicht was originally slated to run 23, but his races were nearly halved by the addition of Clint Bowyer as co-driver. He ran nine total races and had six top-ten finishes. He was released from RCR at then end of the year and signed to attempt 29 races for D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports in the #91 car in 2010, but was released after two races.
Leicht will compete in his first NASCAR race since 2009 (and his first Sprint Cup start since 2006) in Tommy Baldwin Racing's #36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, while Blaney pilots the team's second car, the #35 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, meaning Leicht will be guaranteed a start while Blaney would have to qualify on time. Blaney finished 19th while Leicht finished 24th despite running in the top 10 most of the race.