The driver of the No. 78 doesn’t usually make headlines. In the past few years, it’s been driven by from its part-owner BJ McLeod to former Cup Series full-timer Josh Bilicki, British sportscar driver Kyle Tilley, and current Xfinity competitor Josh Williams. But at Phoenix, just in time for International Women’s Day, it hosted the first female driver in the Cup Series since 2017 and only the sixth ever.
The driver in question is Katherine Legge. The driver out of Guildford, England has competed in everything from open-wheel to sports cars, including testing in F1, competing in the Indy 500, and picking up four wins in IMSA with Honda Racing.
And now she’s moved to NASCAR. Legge’s previously made five starts in the Xfinity Series, with a top-fifteen finish at Road America. As she seeks licensing to compete in the top class, she learned that she needed to compete on a road course or short track, and chose Phoenix since the road course at Circuit of The Americas last week would’ve been even more of a crunch.
“I’ve literally known about doing this race for about 10 days, maybe,” Legge said ahead of the race. “I sat with the NASCAR folks in Atlanta and asked them what I needed to do in order to be licensed in NASCAR. I have to start on a short track, and so here I am.”
Legge anticipated a quiet debut in a car that typically runs around the back of the field, but she didn’t anticipate that the weekend included International Women’s Day.
“You know what? I’m going to admit this now and I probably shouldn’t use these words, but I’m going to anyway. I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to fly under the radar for my first Cup race,’ right? Nobody is going to notice. We’ll be in the back. We’ll chill. We’ll get NASCAR permission. And then someone said ‘Oh, it’s International Women’s Day Saturday.’ There’s no way I’m flying under the radar,” she laughed.
Unfortunately, all the publicity went the wrong way when Legge’s first experience in the top flight of NASCAR racing ended early and in disappointment.
After qualifying in the back, Legge spun by herself on the backstretch four laps in. She collected no other cars but did bring out the caution, and then pitted under a closed pit road when she didn’t hear her crewchief tell her it was closed to pick up an additional penalty.
“I’m sorry,” Legge said over the radio. “My car is so tight, I had so much wheel into it and it snapped.”
Despite picking up a speeding penalty during the first stage break, Legge was able to get up into the top thirty as other drivers got involved in contact and she kept it clean. That wouldn’t remain the case, though, as her second spin wouldn’t only involve her.
On lap 217 of 312, Legge was in the process of going another lap down to the top ten when she washed up the track into Josh Berry on the exit of turn 2. She put too much wheel into trying to stay off Berry and went spinning herself in the same place. Unfortunately, the spin happened right in front of Daniel Suarez who had nowhere to go, taking Suarez out of contention after he’d been running in the top ten.
That ended a disappointing day for Legge when she was forced to the garage, and she ultimately was credited with a 30th-place finish (still ahead of seven other drivers involved in earlier wrecks).
But it’s a finish that should be considered in context. Legge made an unexpected start in an unfamiliar racing discipline for an open team that is certainly not the fastest car on track. She got very limited sim experience and pit practice, but her first laps in a Cup car came during the short practice session during the Phoenix weekend itself.
Legge was still able to log laps, get a feel for the highest level of NASCAR, and work on earning a license to continue competing in the series. Unfortunately, being the rare driver of the No. 78 who actually gets headlines means that Legge gets all eyes on her learning curve. If anything, it shows just how difficult NASCAR racing can be, even for a world-class driver who’s won at the highest level of sportscar racing.
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