One year ago, Stephen Leicht was on top of the world, he had just held off Brad Coleman to win first Nationwide Series in Kentucky and today Leicht is without a ride, doing practice duties for Clint Bowyer's Nationwide car when Bowyer has other commitments with his Sprint Cup car. Leicht did have a ride with Richard Childress earlier this year, but the team was forced to fold after they could not secure any sponsorship. Now Leicht is setting up cars for his teammate.
�Plain and simple, it�s not going to be a good feeling when that race starts, knowing I�m not in the race,� Leicht said. �Anyone that�s won at a track and then has to go sit and watch the same race, knowing they won and they can win again, is not going to be good. It�s disappointing not being able to race, especially having to sit and not being able to defend my title at Kentucky next weekend. There�s something that doesn�t seem right about it.�
Leicht blames his misfortunes on bad timing. �Look at David Gilliland. He won that race [at Kentucky] two years ago, and now he�s in a full-time Cup ride,� Leicht said. �I won it last year, and here I am, and I don�t even have a full-time [Nationwide] ride. It�s not one person�s fault, it�s nobody�s fault. It�s just the way sponsorships have been working out and the way the economy is right now. Everyone�s struggling. Wrong place, wrong time.�
�I knew Robert [Yates] was going his own way and Doug [Yates] was going his own way, and I was going to go in a different direction,� Leicht said. �I never in a million years thought that by the beginning of this season that I wouldn�t have at least a sponsor. When I got hooked up with Richard [Childress], it was a dream come true. I always wanted to run for Richard. I still have all the confidence in the world in him and his team and his marketing people to find a sponsor. But here we are, 12 races in, and still don�t have a sponsor � for the [No.] 21 car. That�s the winningest car in the series, and they cannot find a sponsor for it. It�s unreal. It�s almost like bad timing on my part. I�m here, and they can�t find a sponsor for it.�
Leicht went on to say that Childress has been helping him to find a ride with a different Chevy team, but nothing has come together, but he still keeps memories of that first win close to him.
�Everything just seemed to be in place,� Leicht said. �I said, �If we�re going to win, it�s going to be this weekend.� Sure enough, we went there, and the car off the trailer was awesome. It felt good. We qualified fifth, and in the race, I was in a position to win, and I got it done. I think it�s sunk in now more than ever because now that I�m not racing, and we don�t have a sponsor, and I�m on the sidelines watching. That to me is when it really sinks in. You�re like, �Man, right now I�m not racing but I know if I could race, I can win races. We�ve already shown that.
�It�s just a shame that this 21 team can�t find a sponsor. These guys deserve to be racing. That 21 car is the best team out here. � We need a sponsor so we can prove that.�
Lets hope something does come to him.
Leicht returns to site of win - looking for a full-time Nationwdie opening (Scenedaily.com)
|
|
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment