COPPER HILL, VA :: Matt Leicht is headed to Daytona with a brand new Perfect Circle straight-rail chassis. The former UARA-STARS competitor and South East Super Truck Series winner is heading down for his first time to compete in the UNOH Battle at the Beach at Daytona International Speedway on February 18th.
Leicht has won races at Newport Speedway, Tri-County Motorsports Park and Hickory Motor Speedway, among other tracks, and has competed in to PASS races. He feels his legends experience could help, given the layout of the track. The cars will run on a flat, temporary 4/10 mile course along the Daytona Superstretch. The backstretch of the temporary course runs on the banked portion of the Daytona Superstretch, making it similar in design to the legends courses designed on the front stretch of tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I’ve raced the quarter mile in Atlanta in a super late model and I feel like it’ll be the same thing, just longer straightaways,” Leicht said. “I finished second to David Ragan in that race. It’ll be the same deal, a saving brakes kind of deal. I don’t know if straight rails will have an advantage. If you looked at them side-by-side, I feel like they would. Lynn Carroll will do what he’s got to do to even them up. For the short runs, the Late Models will hang with it but I’m not sure how the Late Models will hang on the long run.”
Leicht was unsure if he’d be able to make it to Daytona. Leicht’s brother was expecting a newborn and it looked like it may have prevented him from making it to the World Center of Speed.
“It means a lot to race at Daytona,” Leicht stated. “The day before yesterday, my brother, Kevin, had his first little girl. I wasn’t going to go because she was due right after the race and I didn’t want to miss it. She was born yesterday, so we’re for sure going now. They were talking about not going because she was due.”
Leicht also said he had an unusual dream. After watching the 2005 ARCA Daytona 200, a wild race that concluded with one of the largest wrecks in ARCA racing history, Leicht dreamed a dream of flipping a stock car end over at the high banks of the Daytona International Speedway. Obviously, Leicht wants to win this race.
“It would mean a lot to win, that’s for sure,” Leich explained. “It’d be something I’d remember for the rest of my life. It would mean a lot to me and my whole family just to say I’ve won at Daytona. I’ve always wanted to race at Daytona. I’ve wanted to flip at Daytona, just one time, because it means I’m racing at Daytona. I’d rather flip in a Cup car than a Super Late Model though.
“We watched the ARCA race a few years, when Billy Venturini broke his neck, and I told my mom I wanted to do that.”
Leicht’s Daytona effort is sponsored by Showtime Saloon, Flex Four Fitness and Hudson Incorporated.
RACE22.com will continue to provide coverage leading up to the UNOH Battle at the Beach at Daytona, which will be run on February 18th, with driver interviews and preview stories. So, stick with RACE22.com, the Short Track Authority, as we continue to countdown to Daytona.
