Katherine Legge Ready to Tackle NASCAR Cup Series Debut at Phoenix

Katherine Legge, driving the No. 78 for Live Fast Motorsports, will be the first women since February 2018 to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, making her debut Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Over the course of a motorsports career that has stretched for more than two decades, Katherine Legge has competed in several prestigious events in a number of different disciplines of motor racing.

The Guildford, England-native has driven vehicles in Formula 3, Champ Car, INDYCAR, Formula E, IMSA, and at one point during her career, in 2005, was a test driver for Minardi Cosworth in Formula 1.

Though, there is one division that Legge has never ventured into, at least not until this weekend in Phoenix, Arizona: The NASCAR Cup Series.

The 44-year-old driver will make her NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, piloting the No. 78 DROPLiGHT Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports – a part-time organization owned by BJ and Jessica McLeod.

She’ll do so, although unintentionally, one day after International Women’s Day.

When Legge takes the green flag in Sunday’s 312-lap contest from the one-mile Phoenix Raceway, she will become the 17th women to compete at NASCAR’s top-level, and the first since Danica Patrick competed in the 2018 DAYTONA 500 – her final Cup Series start.

Legge will join Patrick and Shawna Robinson as the only three women to compete at NASCAR’s top-level since the turn of the century, compared to the five women that ran at least one NASCAR Cup Series event in the 25 years prior to that (1975 to 2000).

“It’s disappointing that there aren’t more women in INDYCAR, NASCAR Cup, and Sportscars, there’s really been kind of a gap,” Legge said on Friday. “There was Sarah Fisher and Danica [Patrick] and me, and Simona [de Silvestro] and a bunch of good driers in that era. Then there’s been this gap, this lull.”

It’s an issue that is near-and-dear to Legge’s heart, and something that she would like to spend the post-racing days of her motorsports career trying to change.

“When I stop racing, or maybe alongside it, but definitely focused when I want to stop racing, I’d love to bring up the next generation. I think there’s only a handful of us that have those shared, lived experiences, and I think that my experience might be valuable in helping them navigate it.”

“Everybody says, ‘what’s it like to be a girl in racing’, and I don’t know, because I only have my own experience. I don’t know what it’s like to be a boy in racing. So, I know what my journey has been, and I know that it’s gone for me, and it’s gone against me, and I know where the struggles are. I know mentally what you have to do to overcome those struggles, and so, I think to me it just is I would much rather people just saw me as another racecar driver on merit, but that’s not reality and I’m not immune or blind to the fact that it has helped me in ways too.”

“I’m just going to go out there and be Katherine and do the very best that I can.”

For much of her racing career, Legge has competed on the road courses, but over the last couple of seasons, has dipped her toes into the oval racing scene, beginning with a NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Richmond Raceway in 2018.

Legge also had a major presence in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2024, running seven oval events for Dale Coyne Racing, including the prestigious Daytona 500, an event she has competed in four times, with a best finish of 22nd (2012).

Early this season, after making her debut in the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway, Legge sought out specifics on what it would take to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“I sat with the NASCAR folks in Atlanta and asked them what I needed to do in order to be licensed in NASCAR,” Legge said. “I have to start on a short track, and so here I am.”

“I’ve spent the majority of the week in North Carolina driving the simulator. [Richard Childress Racing] was kind enough to let me on their static sim, and Chevy was kind enough to put me in the DIL, the motion sim. Hendrick was really cool. They let me do pit practice and Kaulig has been super awesome, so I feel well-supported and as prepared as I possibly can having never driven on an oval like this, a NextGen car.”

For Legge, the goals for Sunday are pretty simple: minimize mistakes, stay out of trouble, and show respect in order to prove that she can hold her own – and who knows, if things go well on Sunday, she could find herself returning to the NASCAR Cup Series for additional events.

“That would be awesome, yeah,” Legge said when asked if she’ll end up running more. “I would love to do that. I don’t think that we have any expectations that we’re going to go out and be competitive. I think if we finish anything but last, that would be a win for us honestly because I don’t have the experience that any of these guys have. I don’t have the car at the moment that’s capable of going and running up in front, so hopefully we can develop me and the car and everything else at the same time and we can get there.”

Legge will make her first laps in the seventh-generation racecar on Saturday, with a 45-minute practice session, followed by single-vehicle qualifying. Then, Sunday, the No. 78 will take the green flag for the Shriners Children’s 500 Sunday (March 9) at 3:30 PM ET on FS1.

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