Katherine Legge originally wanted to make her NASCAR Cup Series debut this weekend at Phoenix Raceway in an under-the-radar fashion, without any fanfare, or unnecessary attention.
The IndyCar and Sports Car veteran just wanted to show up and log laps, check off a necessary approval process from NASCAR, with the 44-year-old hoping to make starts on larger tracks later in the season. She knows she is the first woman since Danica Patrick in 2018 to start a Cup Series race but she isn’t here for the headlines.
The only reason she chose this weekend over Martinsville next month is that fellow IndyCar turned Stock Car racer AJ Allmendinger told her that Phoenix would be more beneficial for her development. ‘
“You know what, I’m going to admit this now, and I probably shouldn’t use these words but I’m going to anyway,” said Legge on Friday during a Phoenix Raceway press conference. “I said I was going to fly under the radar for my first Cup Series race, just be in the back, chill and get NASCAR’s approval.”
Then someone told her that this weekend was International Women’s Day.
“And then I realized, there’s no way I’m flying under the radar now.”
Legge has since been lumped into NASCAR promotional material with the likes of Patrick, Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen, etc.
“So now, we did not take that holiday into consideration and here I am doing media about it,” she said with a laugh.
But all jokes aside, Legge is treating this very seriously. She used the word eight times during her press conference. She used it frequently when she made her ARCA debut at Daytona last month as well. For all her road racing experience, Legge recognizes this is a drastically different world and she wants to both gain experience while also being mindful of those racing for something around her.
While Legge still has IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 ambitions this season, she has also said frequently that she and her sponsors are interested in making NASCAR more of a home this season.
“I would say I want to be respectful of the leaders and stay out of their way because it’s going to happen inevitably, but its also challenging because that gets you out of a rhythm and you’re not reaching the limit of the car,” Legge said. “You don’t get to feel what the actual race is like yet.
“We’ve gone over it, staying in the second lane, and letting them go underneath you. I have a great spotter (David Pepper) who I haven’t met yet but I do think that will all be a challenge. I want to say this though:
“In every form of motorsport, the guys at the back are working way harder than the guys in the front because when you have, like in IndyCar, a Penske or Ganassi car, whatever the uber competitive equivalent is in NASCAR, it is so much easier driving those cars than the one in the back. But I also know that everyone up there has paid their dues by being in my position and I think they will respect that of me if I respect what they’re trying to achieve too.”
Legge is driving for BJ and Jessica McLeod, and their Live Fast Motorsports team, a deal she says only came together 10 days ago after the meeting with NASCAR in Atlanta to determine what comes next. Again, the theme of the day, is that she has come to respect what the McLeods have built on their shoestring budget.
Legge really respects their approach to racing.
Also, this is not the first time Legge has been linked to Patrick either, as they both reached the IndyCar ranks at the same time as the likes of Sarah Fisher and Simona de Silvestro. Legge said she is only disappointed that there has been a gap of sorts in competitive women racers in high level motorsports.
“So when I stop racing, maybe alongside it, but definitely focused on it when I stop racing, I would love to bring up the next generation because I think that there’s only a handful of us that have those shared lived experiences,” Legge said. “I think that my experience might be valuable in helping them navigate it because it’s not like everybody says it’s like to be a girl in racing.
“I have only my own experiences and I don’t know what it’s like to be a boy in racing. I know what my journey in racing has been, what the struggles are, and what you have to do mentally to overcome those struggles. I would just rather people see me as just another race car driver on merit but that hasn’t been the reality and I’m not blind or immune to the fact that it has helped me in ways too.”
For this weekend, Legge says “I am just going to be Katherine and do the very best I can’ and just keep climbing the NASCAR ladder and do it as respectfully as she can.
