Can Leicht regain his mojo at Nashville's stand-alone?

Stephen Leicht was one of NASCAR's brightest young stars in 2007 when he had a breakthrough victory and finished seventh in the Nationwide Series standings for Robert Yates Racing.

But Leicht's career has unexpectedly failed to progress since then. When RYR became Yates Racing under the ownership of Doug Yates and Max Jones late in '07, the new group didn't have a Nationwide program to offer Leicht. Richard Childress then signed Leicht but was able to put together only a five-race program for him last year.

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Leicht's two top-10s in 2008 earned him a second season with Childress and an expanded 13-race Nationwide schedule. He'll make his second 2009 start, and the first of three in a row, Saturday in the No. 29 Chevrolet in the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Still only 22 years old, Leicht finished 11th in the series' first stop this season at Nashville in April. He's sharing the car in 2009 with Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer, who finished third last weekend at Dover.

"It's tough waiting and watching, but at the same time, I'm honored to be working for Richard Childress," Leicht said. "Over the past six weeks, I've paid close attention to the feedback Clint and Jeff gave to our team and how our Chevrolet handles at each track. I've learned a lot and feel confident heading back to Nashville for my second start of the season."

Leicht will be working with a new crew chief, veteran Doug Randolph.

"We've talked over the past few weeks about our goals for this weekend and we're on the same page on how to set the car up for my driving style," Leicht said. "I think he has a tough job jumping into this new role with handling three different drivers in three weekends, but he's done well so far. The team is upbeat after our last two finishes [Burton was ninth at Lowe's Motor Speedway]."

The upcoming three-race run will give Leicht a chance to get into a rhythm and develop chemistry with Randolph.

"He is a talented driver and just loves racing," Randolph said. "His feedback is really great. This will be the first chance where I get to consistently work with a driver for more than a week at a time, since Stephen will be driving three races in a row. There will be a learning period during the first practice session on Friday with communication, but I'm confident we'll work fine together."

Nashville is the beginning of the Nationwide stand-alone schedule, which reduces the number of Sprint Cup regulars and enhances winning opportunities for the regular NNS drivers. Leicht's victory at Kentucky Speedway and Brad Keselowski's initial NNS victory, at Nashville last June, are prime examples.

THREE TO WATCH
Kyle Busch, No. 18: What stroke of misfortune will strike Busch this weekend? Or ... how many laps will Busch lead while not winning the race? He easily is the most dominant driver in the series. Besides his series-high three wins, Busch has led 1,071 of the series' 2,300 laps. Busch is winless in seven races at Nashville, but he finished second in April.

Scott Wimmer, No. 40: Wimmer has eight top-10s in 10 starts at Nashville, including a win in 2008 in the RCR No. 29. Wimmer, now driving for Curtis Key, finished 28th in April.

Carl Edwards, No. 60: Edwards has three wins and seven top-fives in eight races. The lone "blemish" is a 13th last June. In April, Edwards won the pole and finished fifth. One Nashville nemesis he won't have to deal with this week is Clint Bowyer, who has nine top-fives in nine races. Bowyer no longer is running full time in the series.

TRACK CHATTER
Erik Darnell: "I like the competition that the Cup drivers bring to the table. I feel that I really have to step up my game and basically drive my butt off to beat those guys. It's good for young drivers like myself to get the chance to race against them at the next level. Going to a Nashville or Kentucky should theoretically make it easier to get a win without the Cup drivers there. It gives the Nationwide Series a chance to shine, and I hope to do the same on Saturday."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: "Going into Turn 1 it seems like it's easy to overdrive it. You have a lot of room to arc the car in, but once you get down into the corner, you normally realize that you're carrying too much speed and you need to slow down to make the corner. It gets real tight off of Turn 2, the wall comes up pretty quick. Going into Turn 3 you try to arc it out as much as you can, but it's hard to do, so you kind of have to ease up getting into 3 and get into the gas pretty good. It gets tight off of 4, especially when you're two- and three-wide, it gets really, really tight. It's a fun track to drive, though."