Stephen Leicht

Stephen Leicht
Leicht in 2018
Born	Stephen Russell Leicht (1987-01-09) January 9, 1987 Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Achievements	2005 American Speed Association Late Model Champion
Awards	2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
18 races run over 4 years
2017 position	63rd
Best finish	41st (2012)
First race	2006 Pennsylvania 500 (Pocono)
Last race	2017 Overton's 400 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
161 races run over 11 years
2021 position	51st
Best finish	7th (2007)
First race	2005 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis)
Last race	2021 Dead On Tools 250 (Martinsville)
First win	2007 Meijer 300 (Kentucky)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 17 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
4 races run over 1 year
2012 position	98th
Best finish	98th (2012)
First race	2012 VFW 200 (Michigan)
Last race	2012 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series career
3 races run over 2 years
Best finish	85th (2006)
First race	2006 ARCA Daytona 200 (Daytona)
Last race	2023 General Tire 150 (Charlotte)
First win	2006 PFG Lester 150 (Nashville)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 1 0
Statistics current as of May 10, 2024.

Stephen Russell Leicht (born January 9, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 31 Chevrolet for Rise Motorsports. He has previously competed in the NASCAR Cup Series (where he was the 2012 Rookie of the Year) NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Truck Series. Leicht also has over 150 feature event wins in quarter midgets and go-kart racing.

Racing career

Early career

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.

At the age of 12, he began racing stock cars and got his GED to focus full-time on racing, and was named Motorsports Magazines 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 and ARCA career

In 2005, he moved to Wisconsin to work with veteran American Speed Association crew chief Howie Lettow. Leicht collected five wins en route 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. [1]. He also made four Busch series starts in 2006, posting two Top 10 qualifying efforts. On July 23, he made his first Nextel Cup Series start in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway for Yates Racing, qualifying 36th and finishing 33rd, one lap behind.

In 2007, Leicht ran the full NASCAR Busch 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' No. 21 Nationwide car, sharing driving duties with Bobby Labonte. Leicht ran four races with a best finish of seventh at Phoenix International Raceway. However, after Talladega, a lack of sponsorship sidelined Leicht until Texas in the fall, where he finished 18th.

Leicht's Nationwide car in 2009 at Milwaukee

In 2009, Leicht drove the No. 29 Chevrolet Impala in 13 races. Leicht was originally slated to run 23 events, but his races were nearly halved by the addition of Clint Bowyer as co-driver. He ran nine total races and had six top-ten finishes. He was released from RCR at the end of the year and signed to attempt 29 races for D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports in the No. 91 car in 2010, but was released after two races.

Leicht competed in his first NASCAR race since 2009 (and his first Sprint Cup start since 2006) in Tommy Baldwin Racing's No. 36 Chevrolet in 2011, while regular driver Dave Blaney piloted the team's second car, the No. 35 Chevrolet. The move gave Leicht a guaranteed start while Blaney had to qualify on time. Blaney finished 19th while Leicht finished 24th despite running in the Top 10 most of the race.

Leicht drove for Joe Falk at Richmond in April 2012, qualifying 40th and finishing 35th, running at the end but finishing nine laps down. After skipping Talladega, he filed to compete for Rookie of the Year in the Sprint Cup Series, with plans to run the majority of the remainder of the season in the No. 33, except for the June race in Michigan, when Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon drove the No. 33.

Leicht's No. 83 car at Pocono Raceway in 2017

Leicht's best finish of 2012 was 26th at Watkins Glen, ending on the lead lap. He attempted 21 races and competed in 15, and won the series Rookie of the Year award for 2012. After a four-year absence in NASCAR, on January 10, 2017, Leicht received a ride to drive the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro for Obaika Racing starting at Daytona. However, Leicht moved to Obaika's primary No. 97 car for Daytona, causing the No. 77 to withdraw. Leicht attempted the first six races in the 97 as a start and park operation. Leicht only qualified for four races, failing to qualify at Daytona and Texas. Leicht was left without a ride when the 97 scaled back its schedule after the sixth race. Leicht raced at Charlotte in the No. 93 for RSS Racing, start and parking the car. In July, Leicht made his return to the Cup Series at Pocono, driving the No. 83 for BK Racing.

On January 22, 2018, it was announced that Leicht is tabbed as a full-time driver for a newly formed team JP Motorsports. Leicht finished 15th after avoiding multiple crashes at Daytona. He was replaced by Jennifer Jo Cobb at Talladega since she brought sponsorship. On May 22, 2018, it was announced that Leicht and JP Motorsports parted ways and was replaced by Brandon Hightower. On July 28, Leicht returned to No. 93 for RSS Racing at Iowa Speedway start and parked it. The following week, Leicht drove the No. 74 for Mike Harmon Racing at Watkins Glen International, where he didn't qualify for the race.

Leicht's 2019 Xfinity car at Road America

In February 2019, it was announced that Leicht will drive the No. 01 full-time for JD Motorsports. After one season with JD, Leicht moved over to Carl Long's MBM Motorsports No. 61 car for 2020 having his best finish of 21st at the Pennzoil 150.

For 2021 he would attempt five races in the No. 61 MBM Motorsports Toyota and three races in the No.13. The first race for Leicht was the Super Start Batteries 188, he also was scheduled to drive in the Pit Boss 250 but failed to qualify. He was also scheduled to drive in the B&L Transport 170, but he was replaced by David Starr after Starr DNQed in the No. 13 also for MBM Motorsports.

After being without a ride in 2022, Leicht returned to racing in 2023 in ARCA, returning to the series for the first time since 2006, driving the No. 31 car for Rise Motorsports.

Personal life

After finding himself out of a ride after winning Cup Series Rookie of the year in 2012, Leicht worked for a time at a car dealership in Cornelius, North Carolina for a short period of time. During downswings in his racing career, Leicht suffered from clinical depression and eventually went to counseling to treat it.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Cup Series

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	MENCC	Pts	Ref
2006	Robert Yates Racing	90	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC 33	IND DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	78th	0
2011	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	KAN	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH 24											46th	20
		35																												CHI DNQ	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM
2012	Circle Sport	33	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH 35	TAL	DAR DNQ	CLT 39	DOV 35	POC 33	MCH	SON 41	KEN 41	DAY 42	NHA 32	IND 31	POC DNQ	GLN 26	MCH DNQ	BRI 40	ATL DNQ	RCH 36	CHI	NHA 34	DOV	TAL	CLT	KAN	MAR 34	TEX DNQ	PHO 35	HOM DNQ	41st	117
2017	BK Racing	83	Toyota	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	KAN	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC 32	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	CLT	TAL	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	63rd	01

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2005	Robert Yates Racing	90	Ford	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM 13	TEX	PHO 15	HOM	86th	242
2006				DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS 18	ATL	BRI	TEX 20	NSH	PHO	TAL 31	RCH	DAR 25	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN 10	MLW 13	DAY 26	CHI	NHA 33	MAR	GTY 38	IRP	GLN 36	MCH 33	BRI 35	CAL 33	RCH	DOV 23	KAN 12	CLT 14	MEM 19	TEX 19	PHO 27	HOM 27	32nd	1790
2007				DAY 33	CAL 20	MXC 27	LVS 18	ATL 29	BRI 20	NSH 8	TEX 20	PHO 28	TAL 28	RCH 24	DAR 26	CLT 10	DOV 34	NSH 33	KEN 1	MLW 14	NHA 25	DAY 27	CHI 10	GTY 23	IRP 24	CGV 5	GLN 17	MCH 26	BRI 20	CAL 29	RCH 21	DOV 41	KAN 19	CLT 18	MEM 12	TEX 10	PHO 19	HOM 5	7th	3603
2008	Richard Childress Racing	21	Chevy	DAY	CAL 10	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH 12	TEX	PHO 7	MXC	TAL 34	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN																	TEX 18	PHO	HOM	60th	577
		2																		MLW QL†	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM QL†
2009		29		DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH 11	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH 6	KEN 31	MLW 8	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY 6	IRP 13	IOW 10	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV 8	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM 9	TEX	PHO	HOM	43rd	1185
2010	D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	91	Chevy	DAY	CAL DNQ	LVS DNQ	BRI	NSH	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	NSH	KEN	ROA	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	GTY	TEX	PHO	HOM	NA	-
2012	The Motorsports Group	47	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY 42	NHA 42	CHI 41	IND 43	IOW	GLN 42	CGV	BRI DNQ	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM			128th	01
2017	Obaika Racing	97	Chevy	DAY DNQ	ATL 38	LVS 39	PHO 37	CAL 39	TEX DNQ	BRI Wth	RCH	TAL																											82nd	22
	RSS Racing	93	Chevy										CLT 40	DOV	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO
		39																																		HOM 35
2018	JP Motorsports	55	Toyota	DAY 15	ATL 32	LVS 30	PHO 31	CAL 31	TEX 37	BRI 28	RCH 37	TAL	DOV 33	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA																		43rd	81
	RSS Racing	93	Chevy																			IOW 39
	Mike Harmon Racing	74	Dodge																				GLN DNQ	MOH 37		ROA 33	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH	CLT
			Chevy																						BRI 31
	B. J. McLeod Motorsports	99	Chevy																													DOV 40	KAN 32	TEX 37	PHO 38	HOM DNQ
2019	JD Motorsports	01	Chevy	DAY 38	ATL 25	LVS 27	PHO 31	CAL 22	TEX 22	BRI 32	RCH 18	TAL 24	DOV 26	CLT 15	POC 23	MCH 20		CHI 21	DAY 5	KEN 24			GLN 20	MOH 32	BRI 19	ROA 34		IND 23	LVS 21		CLT 19	DOV 23	KAN 27	TEX 19	PHO 21	HOM 24			18th	449
		4															IOW 25				NHA 23	IOW 16								RCH 29
		15																									DAR 26
2020	MBM Motorsports	66	Toyota	DAY	LVS 34	CAL 35	PHO 33	DAR 39	CLT	BRI 34	ATL 36	HOM 36	HOM 38	TAL	POC 27		KEN 35	KEN 34	TEX 35	KAN 37						DAR 35			BRI 36	LVS	TAL		KAN 35	TEX	MAR	PHO			35th	138
		61														IND 21					ROA 22	DAY 21	DOV 22	DOV 31	DAY
		13																									RCH 34	RCH 22				CLT 24
2021		61		DAY	DAY 29	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	MAR	TAL	DAR	DOV	COA DNQ	CLT	MOH	TEX	NSH	POC				GLN 28					RCH 38	BRI	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR 21				51st	45
		13																		ROA 26	ATL	NHA		IND DNQ	MCH	DAY	DAR									PHO DNQ
† – Qualified for Clint Bowyer

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2012	Hillman Racing	25	Chevy	DAY	MAR	CAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	KEN	IOW	CHI	POC	MCH 30	BRI								PHO 31	HOM	98th	01
		27															ATL 34	IOW	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX 32

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	AMSC	Pts	Ref
2006	Robert Yates Racing	66	Ford	DAY 25																							85th	345
		55			NSH 1*	SLM	WIN	KEN	TOL	POC	MCH	KAN	KEN	BLN	POC	GTW	NSH	MCH	ISF	MIL	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	IOW
2023	Rise Motorsports	31	Chevy	DAY	PHO	TAL	KAN	CLT 25	BLN	ELK	MOH	IOW	POC	MCH	IRP	GLN	ISF	MLW	DSF	KAN	BRI	SLM	TOL				112th	19

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points
² Leicht began the 2017 season racing for Cup Series points but switched to Xfinity Series points before the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway

External links

• Official website
• Stephen Leicht driver statistics at Racing-Reference