Stephen Leicht ready to make first Nationwide start of season for RCR
Richard Childress Racing's Stephen Leicht will make his first NASCAR Nationwide Series start of the season in Saturday's Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
Richard Childress Racing’s Stephen Leicht makes his return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in this weekend’s Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Leicht is sharing the team’s No. 29 Chevrolet with Sprint Cup drivers Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer this season, and Nashville is the first Nationwide standalone race of the season.
Leicht last raced in the series last October in RCR’s No. 21 entry at Texas, where he started seventh and finished 18th.
“It has been a while since I’ve raced, but I’m excited to get in the No. 29 Holiday Inn Racing Chevrolet this weekend,” Leicht said. “I’m really going to try and get my comfort level back during the first practice. I want to get my focus back, and I feel that during that first half hour or so I will accomplish that.
“Once the second practice rolls around, I’ll try to focus on getting the No. 29 Chevrolet tuned up for qualifying and the race.”
Leicht has never driven the team’s No. 29 Chevy in a race, but he has worked with crew chief Dan Deeringhoff. Last year, Leicht served as backup driver for Bowyer, whose crew chief was Deeringhoff.
“We know how to communicate well with one another,” Deeringhoff said. “Stephen would help us out if Clint was not able to make it for a practice session, and I believe he even qualified for Clint a time or two. He was instrumental in getting me information on how to tune the car for Clint.
“It will be even better now because Stephen and I can now work together on how to make the car better for him to go out and race as opposed to trying to set it up for another guy’s driving preferences."
Leicht has raced at Nashville three times, with a best finish of eighth for what is now Yates Racing in 2007. As a 19-year-old in 2006, Leicht won an ARCA race at the 1.33-mile track.
“Nashville has been a great track for me, not only in the Nationwide Series, but with the ARCA Series win a few years ago as well,” Leicht said. “I’m excited that I get to race at Nashville in my first two starts of the season. … My teammates Jeff and Clint have done a great job in the first races and I look forward to adding to their strong results. I’m confident with the great team we have, under crew chief Dan Deeringhoff, we’ll do well.”
