I decided to simply create an UPDATE query that adds/pads the leading zeros, the UPDATE is run after the data becomes loaded into the table. This was the best I could do rather than modifying the above code:
This is SQL for the UPDATE Query:
x = left(yourfield & string(8,"0"), 8)
x = right(string(8,"0")& yourfield, 8)
or...
padlen = 8
x = left(yourfield & string(padlen,"0"), padlen)
x = right(string(padlen,"0")& yourfield, padlen)
Thanks everyone!