Conversation: S. Leicht (cont'd)

Q: During Saturday night's Busch Series race in Kentucky, TV personalities referred to you as a "kid." How hard is it for you to be mature and responsible when for most those very words come with age and you're only 20?

Leicht: Well first of all we are rookies in the NASCAR series, but we are not rookies to racing. Most of us have been racing since we were five years old. Yeah we are young, but some people forget that.

And yeah I had to grow up early to do what I do. I finished my GED in the 10th grade and had to be mature and on my best behavior all of the time.

When I was really young, the only way I could race was if I did well in school.

I didn't experience much in high school because I was always racing. I did get to go to prom simply, because one of my best friends invited me and I happened to be home that weekend, but it felt weird because really no one knew me, because I was rarely at school. I knew only half the people in there.

Q: They say the first win is always the hardest. Why? And do you feel like some of the pressure is off?

Leicht: So many things seem to go wrong when you're trying to get that first win, you can't do anything right. Now once you win that first race, that pressure is gone and you know you can do it. After that you can do nothing wrong and everything clicks.

It's funny, apparently after he wrecked out and I was in Victory Lane, Bobby Hamilton Jr. went and toilet-papered my bus. The same thing happened to him when he one his first race so the entire experience has been amazing.

Q: You're quite the star on the Drivers Education commercial promoting ESPN. You flunk on the commercial, but how did you do in real life?

Leicht: I failed the written part the first time I took it. Failed it and came back and the only reason why I passed is because my mom was sitting next to me helping me cheat. She answered some questions for me. It wasn't pretty, but the driving part was easy.

Q: Admittedly, you can recite every line of the famous NASCAR movie Days of Thunder. Really? Why?

Leicht: Ha. Actually, the following day after the win I was reciting lines, because we won the race on the outside. I passed Wimmer and my good friend Brad Coleman on the outside with 13 laps to go.

In the movie when Cole Trickle (played by Tom Cruise) goes for his first win, his crew chief tells him to go to the outside. 'If you go to the outside, you can hold it, the car will stick.'

During the race, I told my crew chief I think I can do this on the outside. So Sunday morning, I called my crew chief and my car chief and the first thing I said was the line from the movie: 'If you go to the outside you can hold it.' We just laughed! It was kind of funny!

Q: Priceless! Now when ya going Cup racing?

Leicht: Don't know. You've been around long enough to understand probably that the driver is the last one to know on these things. I think a lot will depend on sponsors and if RYR decides to run a third car, but we are just going to continue our focus on running well.