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Stephen Leicht
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Stephen Leicht (born January 9, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina) is an American stock car driver. He is a member of Richard Childress Racing. He drives the #29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Richard Childress Racing, sharing the ride with Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. He has over 150 feature event wins in quarter midgets and go-karts. Leicht made his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup debut on July 23, 2006 in the #90 Citifinancial Ford Fusion at Pocono.
When he was seven years old, he began racing quarter midgets, and began advancing into go-karts.
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Encyclopedia
Stephen Leicht (born January 9, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina) is an American stock car driver. He is a member of Richard Childress Racing. He drives the #29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Richard Childress Racing, sharing the ride with Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. He has over 150 feature event wins in quarter midgets and go-karts. Leicht made his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup debut on July 23, 2006 in the #90 Citifinancial Ford Fusion at Pocono.
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.
Early racing career
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.
NASCAR & ARCA career
In 2005, he collected five wins enroute to winning the national championship in the American Speed Association Late Model series for WalTom Racing. 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. . 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 Chevrolet 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.
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