Legge keen to silence the doubters after disappointing NASCAR debut in Phoenix

Yesterday at 05:49 PM

Katherine Legge still loves NASCAR racing and will not let the disappointments from her Cup Series debut dissuade her from trying again.

Legge had hoped to fly under the radar with Live Fast Motorsports last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Her goal was to learn and finish the race. She learned a lot, but she failed to finish and, even worse, became a topic of conversation when she spun with 98 laps to go and collected Daniel Suarez, who was running sixth.

"It's been a lot, honestly," Legge told RACER of processing her debut over the last few days. "It's been some positives to reflect on, but there's been some negatives, too. There's been what the future holds. Whenever you do something for the first time or you try different series, you basically go and analyze everything. So, good, bad, ugly, indifferent. You get opinions from people that you respect that have input in your career moving forward, and then you dissect and analyze all of that, too. So, it's been a process, and with anything, it's good, bad, and indifferent."

Legge felt as prepared as she could be to drive the No.78 Chevrolet on 10 days' notice. In the lead-up, she participated in simulator time and drove a car during pit practice on the Hendrick Motorsports campus. If she were to be able to finish the race and complete all the laps, Legge and BJ and Jessica McLeod, the owners of Live Fast Motorsports, would have considered it a win.

Ultimately, Legge ran 210 of 312 laps and was credited with a 30th-place finish. But she wasn't afraid to admit on her podcast, Throttle Therapy, that she was embarrassed by what happened despite it being a learning experience and first try.

"I take everything seriously, and I definitely took this seriously," Legge said. "My goal was to finish, and that didn't happen, and I don't like not achieving the things I set out to achieve. I was embarrassed by the way that it ended because I made a mistake, and nobody likes to make mistakes. It was not my best work, let's say.

"Everybody does make mistakes, but I was definitely under the spotlight, and I was trying my best not to make mistakes. I was giving everybody so much room and so much respect, and trying to do everything right, and that mistakes obviously got me a lot of negative attention."

Since Sunday, criticism has been directed at Legge, but there has also been a broader conversation about the NASCAR system. In addition to how NASCAR approves drivers, there have also been reflections on how the sport no longer has an open testing policy that allows teams to spend however much time they want testing around the country. The weekend schedule at the track is quite condensed, with drivers practicing for less than 30 minutes. Phoenix did have an extended 45-minute session because of the option tire, but Legge was not on track for a full 45 minutes.

"Yeah, I was embarrassed because I didn't want to make a mistake," Legge continued. "I wanted to show I was competent and that I belonged, and I knew as soon as it happened that everybody would attach to that, and that was what I would be remembered for. Because that's always the way when you have so much of a spotlight on you going into something, people are very much more passionate about you either failing or you succeeding. They have an opinion, and that's exactly what happened – everybody and their dog decided that they had an opinion."

Legge admits that wants everyone to like her. Naturally, she has tried to stay out of the comments section this week. There was also a moment – the first in her career – when Legge was signing autographs at Phoenix Raceway and a fan asked her, "What lap are you going to crash on?" It hasn't surprised her that she has to earn the respect of race fans in NASCAR.

As for respect within NASCAR and with its drivers, Legge has spoken with NASCAR, McLeod, and Kaulig Racing (who also helped prepare her for her debut). She has also reached out to Suarez.

"I made lots of phone calls," Legge said. "Daniel was very sweet, actually, very kind and understanding. He was like, 'Listen, I don't blame you. Of course, what happened was less than ideal for me.' Which I said, 'Listen, it was not intention. I know that doesn't make that any better, but I was trying my best to stay out of trouble actually, and it was just a mistake.'"

"He said, and I think this sentiment has been echoed across many platforms, is that it's not really fair for new people going to a series to not be able to gain experience and just be thrown in at the top level. While I've been thrown into the top level of motorsports in many different disciplines, normally you have a test or something like that, and these cars aren't particularly easy to drive. … So, I think that it definitely puts a spotlight on this sport and again, they say, there's no such thing as bad press but after this week, I beg to differ."

Yet, Legge is open to doing more. NASCAR has approved her for road courses and short ovals, and she understands that they would like to see her do more Xfinity Series races.

"I had somebody from another team call me today and say, part of me thought that you were going to say, OK, I don't want to do this anymore or this isn't for me," Legge said. "I was like, hell no. You don't know me very well, but all this does is make me dig my heels in and go, you know what, I'm going to prove everybody wrong, because I know that I'm a good race car driver and this was just a blip in the matrix."