Ford 300 - Stephen Leicht Notes

Stephen Leicht
Homestead-Miami Speedway
No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion
Ford 300
NASCAR Busch Series
Saturday, November 18

HOMESTEAD MIAMI SPEEDWAY NOTES-
Stephen Leicht’s initial 2006 schedule included a handful of races behind the wheel of the No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford. Instead, Leicht was tagged as Yates’ full time driver for the second half of the season. Leicht posted one top-10 and four top-15’s in 19 starts. With the season finale in sight, Leicht hopes to continue progressing and previewing what is to come of the No. 90 team in 2007.

“This season has been a rollercoaster for me,” said Leicht. “I’ve learned so much and feel like I’m prepared for next year’s challenges. This entire CitiFinancial Team has gotten so strong in the past few months and proved that we can run up front. We’ve had good enough equipment to score top-five and top-10 finishes these last few weeks but bad luck negated that. Our goal is to end the season with a strong finish for the CitiFinancial Team this weekend in Homestead and give our team some momentum going into next year.”

Q & A WITH LEICHT
Now that CitiFinancial has announced their plans to return as the primary sponsor of the No. 90 next season, does that help your confidence going into the off season?
“Absolutely. CitiFinancial is a great sponsor and I’m really looking forward to next season. I know our team will continue to get stronger this winter and we will be able to post some good runs for CitiFinancial in 2007.”

What was your biggest accomplishment in 2006?
“I had several that stand out including making my first cup race at Pocono, but I’ll have to say winning the Nashville ARCA RE/MAX Series race was awesome. It was my first win for Robert Yates Racing and a lot of the guys on my CitiFinancial team helped out with the win and it felt great to get those guys to Victory Lane.”

What will you do in the off-season to ensure that you are ready for Daytona in February?
"I am going to make sure that I am in the best physical shape that I can be in. I’ve become a health nut this season. I also plan on racing a lot of simulator games to keep my mind focused on racing. In the shop, I know that the team is going to be working very hard on building some new cars. Cully (Barraclough, crew chief) also wants to have a very aggressive testing schedule."

CHASSIS INFORMATION - The CitiFinancial team is taking chassis No.14 to Homestead-Miami. This is the same chassis that RYR raced at Kansas (started 15th, finished 12th), Charlotte (started 13th, finished 14th), Michigan (started 36th, finished 33rd), Chicago (started 38th, finished 38th), Kentucky (started 38th, finished 10th) and California (started 35th, finished 33rd).