Leicht Making Most of RCR Opportunity
Every week he doesn’t race, Stephen Leicht gets a little frustrated. But every week he does get to step into the Richard Childress Racing No. 21 Nationwide Series car that he shares with Bobby Labonte, Leicht remembers why he opted for a part-time schedule.
Still uncertain of how many races he will get to run this season, Leicht finished 7th in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix. It was his best run in 3 races this year, having finished 10th at California in February and 12th in Nashville in March.
“I feel pretty good, all things considered,” Leicht said. “I haven’t been in a car for a while. Not racing for 3 weeks is killing me. I get in the car, it takes the first half of the race to feel like a race-car driver again. “But all in all, it was a good night. I am starting to feel like my old self , just in a better race car.”
While happy with 7th , Leicht was still a bit disappointed. He allowed Mike Bliss to pass him on the green-white-checkered dash to the finish when he was thinking he had a shot to get to fourth if he could get by David Ragan and Kevin Harvick. But while his car had been good early in runs for much of the race, his car wanted longer runs, which he didn’t get at the end.
“I ‘m happy but I am mad,” Leicht said. “We were better than the 6 car (of Ragan), maybe even better than the 33(of Harvick).
I gave it my best shot. I got underneath (Ragan and Bliss) on the backstretch. Either of the 1(of Bliss) got into me or I got loose, lost some momentum and (Bliss) got around me.”
Leicht spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons at Robert Yates racing and was penciled in as a possible Cup driver if everything had panned out. And even though he did make one Cup start for RYR in 2006(while he was running a partial schedule in NASCAR”s No.2 series)and he won Kentucky Speedway last year, Leicht didn’t have a future in the Yates family after finishing 7th in points.
He felt then his best option was the partial schedule with RCR.
“There’s no question about it—you cannot second- guess that [decision] at all,” Leicht said. “These guys are a championship team and to run part time this year with these guys to get a chance full time next year is way better than a full-time deal somewhere else”.
|
