Circle Sport LLC Tabs Leicht For Cup Effort

Circle Sport, LLC, has announced that 2012 Rookie-of-the-Year Contender Stephen Leicht will drive the No. 33 Circle Sport Chevrolet this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the debut effort for the Sprint Cup Series organization. Joe Falk recently acquired the No. 33 from Richard Childress Racing, and formed Circle Sport to operate the fledging organization. Falk, a Virginia businessman who has been a part of the sport since the late 1990s, is making a return to fulltime competition in NASCAR’s top series. Falk previously fielded the No. 91 Sprint Cup entry for drivers Dick Trickle, Greg Sacks, Kevin Lepage, Mike Wallace and Todd Bodine, and claimed a career-best Top-5 finish in 1998 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Stephen Leicht returns...

“When the opportunity was presented to acquire the No. 33 owner points from Richard Childress Racing, we felt this was the way to build a solid foundation for our emerging Sprint Cup operation,” Falk said. “Circle Sport is positioned to offer companies of all sizes entry into NASCAR’s top tier of racing and the ability to reach the sport’s 75 million fans. We are actively seeking marketing partners that want to either test the waters of NASCAR or have been told that their budgets can’t support a NASCAR program.”

Leicht, the 25-year old former development driver for Robert Yates Racing and winner of the 2007 Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway has been selected to pilot the No. 33 Circle Sport entry in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Leicht enters the weekend event with three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts to his credit, after making his debut for legendary owner and engine builder Robert Yates in 2006. Leicht was recently approved for the NASCAR ROTY program and will be guided by veteran crew chief Tony Glover. Glover is a three-time Daytona 500 championship crew chief credited with 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories with drivers Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek, and joins Circle Sport after a longtime leadership role with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing.

Falk’s Little Joe’s Autos has served as a sponsor in the races leading up to the Coca-Cola 600 with Precon Marine, a Virginia-based company that specializes in heavy marine constructions, in an associate role. Additionally, Circle Sport welcomes marketing partners new to the sport of NASCAR – HotTorque.com and Moon Shine Attitude Attire – for this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. HotTorque, a social media forum and phone APP for car enthusiasts, was designed to help connect, communicate and share with automotive enthusiasts worldwide and will become the world’s first social media app for motoring enthusiasts to become a sponsor in NASCAR. Moon Shine Attitude Attire is a designer of quality brand name apparel that conveys the attitude and traditional values of every generation.

Complete details of the sponsor-driver lineup for the remainder of the season will be announced at a later date.