44-year-old Katherine Legge made her debut in the Cup Series at Phoenix last Sunday. What should have been a showcase of women’s talent in NASCAR ended up being a disaster, thanks to the driver approval system of the promotion. Legge struggled to handle the Next Gen car and crashed out with 97 laps remaining in the race, taking out Daniel Suarez along with her.
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As Suarez noted in his post-race interview, there was nothing wrong with Legge. She is an accomplished racer with a long list of accolades in various forms of motorsports. She has even participated in select Xfinity Series races. But what she didn’t have was prior experience driving in the Cup Series. It was a mistake to put her in the Next Gen car with no history in them.
Legge shared with reporters that the opportunity to drive the No. 78 car for Live Fast Motorsports came together in a matter of ten days. The major part of her preparation was through simulators, and the first time she navigated the car in person was during practice on Saturday. Even the youngest NASCAR fan in the world would know that that’s not enough time.
Suarez lashed out, “What is wrong is NASCAR. They cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup Series. Plain and simple.” There hasn’t been too much trouble so far when foreign drivers attempt to drive the Next Gen car. Shane van Gisbergen, for one, quickly adapted to it and won his debut.
But a situation like the one Legge found herself in was always unavoidable. The promotion made the right call when it stopped Mike Wallace from racing in the Daytona 500 since he had no prior experience driving the Next Gen car. Why, then, was Legge allowed to do it in Phoenix? Despite her illustrious resume, she is a newbie in stock car racing.
Perhaps she ought to have been mandated to drive in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series before this stint. On the other side, little would that have helped, considering the differences in the vehicles used in the three national series. The one certain conclusion that can be drawn from the incident is that NASCAR needs to rethink its approval process.
“She was really thrown to the wolves.” @KevinHarvick on Katherine Legge’s #NASCAR Cup Series debut and the approval process. pic.twitter.com/t59N0Q29Cd
— HarvickHappyHour (@HarvickHappyPod) March 11, 2025
Kevin Harvick pointed out on Harvick Happy Hour that the promotion needs to put new drivers in a position to win rather than rushing them through the system.
The length of practice sessions has been brought down to a great extent due to rising costs. A monetary sacrifice might be the only solution to acclimatize drivers like Legge to such challenges. Hopefully, she will be the last driver to learn how to drive a Next Gen car the tough way.
