By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
The goals for Katherine Legge were not only to not finish last out of the 37-car field, but to run all the laps and minimize mistakes.
While one of the three goals was accomplished, the other two were dashed on Lap 215 when a crash ended her NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Legge was driving below the apron before coming up the track and lost control of Turn 2 with Daniel Suarez crashing into her that ended her afternoon with less than 100 laps remaining.
“It was really rough. We made some changes to the car overnight and they were awful,” Legge told the press after her exit.
“I was hanging on in the first stint. It was so loose and was just hanging onto it. Then we kept making adjustments and we kept making the car more stable for me. Then in the end, we were relatively quick compared to the field, so it wasn’t bad, but I wish we hadn’t made the changes. We’re trying to find some pace and we found it throughout the race, but it was a rough start.”
For the first time since 2018, a female driver took the green flag in a NASCAR Cup Series race with Legge being the 17th driver to do so.
However, her day started off with a single-car spin in Turn 2 on Lap 4 for the first caution of the 312-lap race. Right away, an ongoing theme took place as Legge’s No. 78 Droplight Chevrolet battled a tight car throughout the race.
After feeling fine with her Live Fast Motorsports entry Saturday, it wasn’t the case during the race as adjustments were made that didn’t pan out well. The crew told her they’re holding themselves accountable for the unideal handling as Legge was at the bottom of the running order.
Then on Lap 99, Legge caught herself a break when an 11-car crash took out seven drivers that assured Legge a result better than 37th. Being the last car in line, Legge was able to avoid the mayhem but almost had a harrowing moment.
The damaged car of Brad Keselowski was getting his car rolling and went up the path of Legge on the outside. Fortunately, Legge was able to stop her car to avoid becoming the 12th driver involved in the multi-car crash.
When the dust settled, Legge was now in the top-30 while dealing with a loose car and radio communication troubles. Even setting pretty good lap times after being told to pick up the pace at one point in the race.
As the race came down to the final 100 laps, that’s when Legge’s afternoon went south. For the second time of the afternoon, Turn 2 was Legge’s kryptonite after losing control right on the path of fifth-place runner Josh Berry.
Slight contact was made between the two, but Legge’s spin resulted in sixth-place Daniel Suarez having no room to avoid her and crashing onto the left side of Legge’s car.
The No. 78 goes around and collects @Daniel_SuarezG. pic.twitter.com/X6qyKN8cuM
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 9, 2025
Over the radio, Suarez wasn’t pleased after the accident.
“F—ing lappers man. Unbelievable,” said Suarez.
Suarez kept his car rolling and brought it to pit road to ultimately finish 23rd, four laps behind race winner Christopher Bell. On the other hand, Legge was stuck in gear and required some assistance before getting her No. 78 Chevrolet going and later brought it to the garage on Lap 218.
As the rest of the field took the green flag without Legge, time went by her Cup debut officially ended with a 30th place result after completing 210 laps.
Despite an up and down afternoon, Legge hopes to be back in the sport’s premiere division in the future after having a “baptism of fire” experience.
“There’s a lot of positives to take from it,” said Legge. “Obviously, mistakes were made but I learned so much. Hopefully, I get to come back again.”
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