NASCAR Mexico Race: Katherine Legge Returns to Cup Series Competition on Familiar Turf

Katherine Legge made her debut in the NASCAR Cup Series with great hopes this year. Her ultimate dream was to become a full-time driver in the premier tier and she planned to use her part-time schedule this year to make it a reality. Unfortunately, she stumbled right off the bat with a disappointing performance at the Phoenix Raceway.

She then partnered with Jordan Anderson in the Xfinity Series to start a handful of races, all of which ended in similar disappointment. The 44-year-old now prepares to make her second Cup Series start in Mexico City this weekend. She will be doing so for Live Fast Motorsports, the same team she drove for during her debut performance.

While most of the other drivers in the Cup Series field will be encountering unknown territory at the international venue, Legge will have a slight upper hand over them. She has already raced in the city and won a crucial event back in 2019. She secured victory in Round 2 of the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY and became the first female driver to win a race during the Formula E race weekend.

This is but a slight advantage in her corner against a long list of disadvantages. Despite her illustrious racing resume, she doesn’t have a whole lot of experience racing stock cars and it shows every time she climbs into one. Hopefully, the repeated appearances will help her get accustomed to the heightened demands of handling the Next Gen car.

Legge objects to the segregation of sexes in racing

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has proposed a separate all-girls karting series. Legge believes that this will harm the growth of young girl racers by preventing them from competing against the best. She contends that girls are equally capable as boys to perform at the highest levels of motorsports.

She said, “If you’re not racing against the best, you’re not gonna be the best of the best. It’s gonna be a girls’ series, and there’s absolutely no f—ing reason why there should be a girls’ series when we’re perfectly capable of racing against the guys.” 

“And so the level of that girls’ series is going to be lower than the level of the guys’ series because they’re not racing against the best of the best. I think it’s rubbish,” she added.

Legge is frustrated that the examples set by extraordinary female drivers like Sarah Fisher have been lost through time. It remains to be seen if the FIA will go ahead with its proposed plan and segregate its upcoming drivers based on sex.