XFINITY: Legge's Day Comes to End With Hard Crash; Kahne Damaged

Saturday, April 19, was supposed to be a day full of learning for Katherine Legge, who is attempting to work her way into a stock car racing career. However, after a miserable day at Rockingham Speedway, it'll likely be a day that the 44-year-old racer will want to forget.

The day started with Legge failing to lock her way into the starting grid for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 in the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet. After a deal was made between the Anderson team and Joey Gase Motorsports, a driver swap took place, which put Legge behind the wheel of the No. 53 car for Saturday's race.

Unfortunately, Legge was incredibly slow in the No. 53 machine in the opening laps of the race as she acclimated to the car, and her race only lasted 50 laps as she suffered a massive impact into the outside wall in Turn 2 on Lap 52.

The incident was triggered as lead-lap drivers Nick Sanchez, William Sawalich, and Kasey Kahne quickly approached her No. 53 machine, which had already dropped two laps off of the pace. As Sanchez noticed the speed desparity between her car and his, he knifed his car to the inside line. As Sanchez cut his car low, Sawalich got a delayed view of what caused Sanchez to take evasive action.

It was too late.

Katherine Legge, William Sawalich, and Kasey Kahne run into problems on the turn to bring out the caution. pic.twitter.com/ckZWHz3fhq
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 19, 2025

Sawalich would get into the rear of Legge's car, which would send the driver of the No. 53 Chevrolet spinning out. Legge would collide with the right front corner of Kahne's No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. As she contacted Kahne's car, Legge's car shot back across the track, where she would go head-on into the outside SAFER barrier.

After being released from the infield care center, Legge expressed frustration about the incident with Sawalich.

"I'm fine, just exacerbated," Legge explained. "You know, I think I must've been really bad in a previous life or something because it's a bit unlucky. There's not much I could do, and then I just got taken out by Sawalich. It is what it is in that situation."

When asked about the way she drove the lead-lap cars as they approached her, Legge defended her driving by saying she was giving a lane to the leaders.

"I mean, I had given the inside lane to whoever had just gone past me. I thought we were going to finish the corner, but he just moved up the race track and understeered straight into my left rear, so not much you can do," Legge said.

The native of England felt while she was off the pace in the opening laps, that she had finally begun to understand the No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet and that she was starting to get more comfortable -- then the crash occurred.

"You know, I was settling in, and actually we were doing great," Legge stated. "Like, I think the car wasn't the car I was used to driving in practice yesterday, so it took me like 20 laps or so to get used to it. But then we were just hanging with the pack there, and I was thinking, okay, I'm getting experience. And my goal was just to finish. Right? And then when you get taken out, you get hit like that, there's literally nothing you can do. I don't have a disappear button on my steering wheel."

Legge, who saw her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix Raceway come to an early end due to a crash, saw a similar fate in her first NASCAR Xfinity Series race since the 2023 season.

The incident heavily crumpled the right front fender of Kasey Kahne's No. 33 car. Kahne, who was making his first NASCAR National Series start in nearly seven years, started from the fourth position and was running solidly in sixth at the time of the incident.

Kahne would lose a lap as his team repaired his car, but he would return to the race.

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