A fair shot? Cup competitors question NASCAR's approval process for new drivers to series

Katherine Legge said she'll be better than her Phoenix debut but some drivers raise questions about NASCAR's approval process, saying it put Legge and Helio Castroneves in difficult situations in their Cup debuts this season.

Legge spun twice last weekend at Phoenix, her second incident damaging Daniel Suarez's car. Castroneves was collected in crashes in his qualifying race and the Daytona 500 last month.

NASCAR's approval process for drivers has gained attention since the start of the year.

In January, NASCAR denied approval for Mike Wallace, who had 197 career Cup starts, to run the Daytona 500 because he last raced in the series in 2015. Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner with no NASCAR Cup, Xfinity or Truck experience, was approved to compete in the Daytona 500.

Legge, whose has raced IndyCars and in IMSA for years but had only one Xfinity start since 2019, was approved to make her Cup debut at Phoenix. This week it was announced that Casey Mears, who has 489 Cup starts, will race at Martinsville later this month for his first Cup event since the 2019 Daytona 500.

Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano suggests that more structure is needed with NASCAR's driver approval process.

"There's a line between entertainment and safety, not only for that particular driver, but us that race here every week, for the rest of the drivers out there and pit crews that are jumping out in front of these cars playing in traffic," he said Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"There's got to be a line in there somewhere, a little bit of structure behind it would be nice, like saying maybe you've got to run the Xfinity race or a couple of other different types of races. I'm sure they don't want to put too much structure behind it because every situation is a little bit different. At the same time I think there's got to be some marks you have to hit before you get approved into a Cup race."

Two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch said current Cup drivers should be involved in the approval process.

"I think there's a lot of work that could be done to make it better," he said Saturday at Las Vegas of the driver approval process.

"I also do feel as though it shouldn't be 'suit and ties' making the decisions always. Certainly there can be some that need to be involved, but I do feel like there needs to be (active drivers) involved in some of those decision-making processes on those that need to be approved or not approved for various activities."

Sixteen drivers have made their Cup debut since the start of the 2023 season. Eleven of them had either no or limited NASCAR Cup, Xfinity or Truck Series experience.

Of those 11, eight debuted on road courses, including Connor Zilisch at Circuit of the Americas this month. The other three debuts from drivers with limited or no NASCAR experience came at Daytona (Castroneves), Phoenix (Legge) and the 2023 Bristol Dirt race (dirt late model racer Jonathan Davenport).

Shane van Gisbergen had no NASCAR experience before he made his Cup debut in the 2023 Chicago Street Race. He won that event, becoming the first driver to win in their NASCAR debut since 1963.

The only other driver since 2023 with no or limited NASCAR experience to finish in the top 20 in their Cup debut was Jenson Button. The 2009 Formula One champion placed 18th at COTA in 2023.

Logano understands the challenges new drivers to the series face, just as he would face if he raced elsewhere.

"When you look at F1, for anyone to get a license to race there, I don't know if any of us (in NASCAR) are qualified, nor should we be because we've never driven anything like that," he said.

"I don't think it'd be right to throw me into an F1 race without racing one before and giving me 20 minutes of practice. Yeah, I'm going to be in the way because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. The same thing for them, though, right? If you've never driven a stock car, should you just jump in a Cup car with 20 minutes of practice and line up and race?"

Michael McDowell, who will start on the pole for Sunday's Cup race at Las Vegas, notes the difficulties drivers, who either have no experience in Cup or no recent Cup experience, could have with the car. But he also considers what those drivers have done.

"Helio is a world-class race car driver, and he should be approved," McDowell said. "I mean, it would be crazy to think that he wouldn't.

"Now, does that mean that he has a ton of experience in our cars and is prepared for every single situation and every single dirty air situation and all those things? No. But either was Kyle Larson at the Indy 500, right? There are certain things that, if you don't do it all the time, you're just not going to know and you're not going to have.

"Mike Wallace, he's a tremendous speedway racer. Out of all the places that you could run him, you could probably run him there pretty confidently and not think about it. It's just the amount of experience he has in all the different situations. Casey Mears, I mean, I have no problem with Casey Mears driving. He's done (489) Cup starts and is a great race car driver. And he's not that far removed from it.

"So I don't think we've missed it. I don't think it's an issue. But you're putting a lot on a driver to know all these different aspects in a one-off situation. Same with Katherine (Legge), too. She's a world-class race car driver. Driven all over the world in all different types of race cars. I don't feel like she's underqualified.

"But she doesn't have the experience, situationally, in our cars. And I don't know how much racing would — if she did an Xfinity race at Phoenix, I don't know if that would change anything."

NASCAR officials explained the driver approval process earlier this month on the sanctioning body's "Hauler Talk" podcast. Former Cup driver Chad Little leads the process, which includes a committee that helps make decisions on if to approve a driver.

Little monitors a driver's progress throughout the weekend and any notes will be put on the driver's file to consider should the competitor request to be approved for future races.

Although Castroneves had no NASCAR experience, his success in IndyCar and IMSA easily shows his talent.

He also had the benefit of extra track time ahead of his Daytona 500 debut. NASCAR allows a test for drivers of "elite credentials" who have not tested or competed in a Next Gen car before their debut. Castroneves took part in a test at Talladega in January. He also drove in the ARCA race at Daytona.

While he had the opportunity to practice before Cup qualifying at Daytona and compete in a qualifying race and one of two practice sessions after that, he still had limited experience with the Cup car, something he acknowledged ahead of qualifying.

Legge, who competed in the ARCA event at Daytona last month, said she was approved for road courses and short tracks but didn't have enough time to put everything together to run at COTA, so she made her debut at Phoenix a week later. To prepare, she had simulator time at Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet and drove a car in pit practice for Hendrick Motorsports the week of the race.

Asked at Phoenix why she didn't delay her debut until later in the month to Martinsville, Legge said: "When I talk to other drivers and teams in NASCAR and people that were helping me, they said this is the best track for me to learn at and going to somewhere like Martinsville would be terrifying. I don't know whether that's true or not, but I take their advice, right? I don't know what I don't know, so when someone says (that) to me, then I do what I'm told."

One thing that Phoenix provided was extra practice time. Teams had 45 minutes of practice instead of the usual 25 because of the use of the option tire that weekend. Legge said on her podcast "Throttle Therapy with Katherine Legge" that she didn't run early in the practice session to avoid getting in the way of other teams. She ran 43 laps in the session — fewer than all but one driver.

Legge said on her podcast that she worked up to speed in the race. She started last and fought an ill-handling car early. She brought out a caution at Lap 5 for a spin. She said the team got the car better later in the race before her spin brought out the caution at Lap 216. Suarez was running sixth at the time and made contact, damaging his car.

In his Vlog about his Phoenix weekend, Suarez questioned the NASCAR driver approval process as he talked with wife Julia after the race.

"Nothing against her," Suarez said of Legge. "You know how I am. I hope girls make it in the sport. Hope. … (NASCAR) cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup Series. Plain and simple. Plain and simple."

Legge discussed her incident on her podcast.

"I just made a mistake, man," she said. " … We were racy, came up and touched Josh Berry and then went around and collected Suarez. I have a couple of phone calls to make to apologize for ruining Daniel's day. It wasn't my intention. I know that doesn't help, but I really was trying to do my best to keep out of the way."

But Legge also defended her right to compete at Phoenix.

"I can understand that they think it's a pain to have cars that are a bit of a wildcard coming in, but that's how we all learn," Legge said on her podcast. "Yes, I didn't come through the traditional Xfinity, Truck ranks, but you know, I have just as much right to be out here as they do in a way.

"I think a lot of them have been super understanding but a lot of them probably resent it a little bit, too, and I understand it. I've been in that position where the new people come in and you're like, 'What are they doing?' They're just coming in. They're buying a ride or whatever it is and you're like 'Just stay out of the way. Just don't ruin everybody else's race.'

"I tried to earn their respect and show them respect, and I hope that in some way I did. I think I've still got a long way to go to prove it. You know what, I am a decent race car driver and I will prove it, and I will get better."