Richard Childress Racing's Stephen Leicht unsure of plans for 2010
Richard Childress Racing driver Stephen Leicht has two top-10 finishes in four starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
MADISON, Ill. – Part-time NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Stephen Leicht says he is feeling extra pressure this season to make the most of every opportunity behind the wheel because of the uncertain nature of many Nationwide team sponsorships going forward.
Leicht, who is sharing the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with RCR Cup drivers Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer, says he also doesn’t know if he’ll be back with the organization next season. Even if he does return, Leicht doesn’t know how many races he’ll get to run.
“It’s hard enough alone having two teammates like Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton to be compared to, but knowing the way sponsorship is so tight now to go out there every week, I know I’m pretty much driving for a job,” he said on Friday at Gateway International Raceway, site of Saturday night’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. “I’m going to get compared to those two when it comes to the end of the year and they’re thinking, ‘Do we want to go full time with one driver and do we want to go after that championship? Well, who’s our best choice?’
“Well, obviously they’re going to compare all the finishes and every week, whichever one of us ran, to decide who they want full time. And that puts more pressure on for sure.”
Leicht also noted what he considers sponsors’ growing influence on which driver Nationwide teams decide to put in their cars. He is set to make the fifth start of his limited schedule this weekend and will run the two events after that before a three-week absence.
“Personally, as a Nationwide-only driver right now not being a Cup driver yet, these sponsors that do get on these Nationwide teams, especially these big ones, they want a Cup driver,” said Leicht, whose No. 29 Chevrolet has Holiday Inn as its primary sponsor. “They want a Cup driver driving these cars; they don’t want a Nationwide-only driver. They don’t want someone that’s part time or was full time like myself, even though I did well in ’07, won a race, ranked top 10 in points and did everything I pretty much could have done to prove myself. Now, these sponsors have so much say in the way they spend their dollars and who gets in that race car, most of them want a Cup driver in there for at least part of the races.
“Holiday Inn, for example, Jeff Burton’s got to be in there for 10 races every year. That’s [the sponsor’s] main guy, that’s who they really put their focus on, and the same thing goes for a lot of other sponsors. So as a Nationwide-only driver, it’s harder to get out there and find a full-time sponsor for yourself.”
