Even though she has great talent and versatility in racing across different types of platforms and series, Katherine Legge is struggling to adapt to NASCAR competition.
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In her second start of 2025, Legge didn’t even make it past the one-fifth point of the race, wrecking on Lap 50 of the 256-lap North Carolina Education Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway.
It’s the second consecutive rough outing that the English native has endured this season. She finished 30th (of 37 cars) in her NASCAR Cup debut last month at Phoenix.
And now comes her early departure Saturday at the fabled “The Rock,” when Legge mixed it up with William Sawalich.
“I’m fine, I’m just exacerbated,” Legge told FOX Sports. “There wasn’t much I could do, I just got taken out by Sawalich. It is what it is in that situation.
“I’d given the inside lane to whoever had gone past me, and I thought we were going to finish the corner, but he just moved up the racetrack and understeered right into my left rear. So, not much you can do.”
Going into Saturday’s race, Legge had high hopes for a decent finish. But instead, she finished last in the 38-car field.
“I was settling in, and actually we were doing great. It took me about 20 laps or so to get used to (the car). We were just hanging with the pack, and I was thinking I was getting experience, and my goal was just to finish.
“When you get taken out and get hit like that, there’s literally nothing you can do. I don’t have a ‘disappear button’ on my steering wheel.”
But Legge, who thanked her team and sponsors in a post on X, did find a moment to add a bit of levity to the incident with Sawalich, saying, “I must have been really bad in a previous life or something because I’m a bit unlucky.”
Legge’s career scorecard thus far in NASCAR is not pretty:
- Saturday was her first start in Xfinity this year, but the sixth overall in her career. She’s only had one finish higher than 28th in those six races (14th at Road America in 2018), with four finishes of 30th or worse.
- One Cup start — earlier this year at Phoenix, where she finished 30th of 37 cars.
However, this week did bring some good news for Legge, as she added additional sponsorship that will see her compete on 12 of the next 18 NASCAR weekends, either in Cup or Xfinity.
That follows last week’s announcement of expanded sponsorship with e.l.f. Cosmetics.
