This NASCAR season has been one of firsts for Katherine Legge.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s her first in the NASCAR Cup Series \u2014 she\u2019s the first female driver since Danica Patrick in 2018 \u2014 after making her debut in March at Phoenix Raceway, and it has been a whirlwind of change for Legge.<\/p>\n
Sunday will present another hurdle for Legge as she races in the Chicago Street Race for the first time. She\u2019s still getting adjusted to her stock car and the different courses in NASCAR.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year has been like drinking through a fire hose because I\u2019m learning new cars, new circuits and new ways of doing things,\u201d she told the Sun-Times.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Legge ran through a simulation of the race to help her gain some familiarity with the course ahead of Saturday\u2019s practice. Watching video is paramount for Legge because of the brief time \u2014 20 minutes \u2014 drivers are allotted to practice Saturday.<\/p>\n
Legge is the only woman in the Chicago Street Race, but she\u2019s used to being a trailblazer. In 2012, she became the ninth woman to compete in the Indy 500 since the race\u2019s inception in 1911, and she was the only woman competing at the 2024 edition.<\/p>\n
She has experience with street courses through IndyCar racing but said the Chicago course is unique in its design.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s bringing racing to the people, right?\u201d Legge said. \u201cThey can literally watch the car go by their faces, so it\u2019s a whole different animal. You have to be precise. You\u2019ve got concrete walls. The atmosphere is the most unique thing about street-course racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The start of the 2025 season has been rocky for Legge. She finished 32nd in the NASCAR Mexico City race, and her debut in Phoenix ended in a crash and a 30th-place finish. Legge, 44, acknowledged the shaky beginnings to her Cup Series career, but she\u2019s optimistic about the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a linear process,\u201d Legge said of getting accustomed to Cup Series racing. \u201cIt goes up and down. It\u2019s been, at times, incredibly frustrating and, at times, incredibly rewarding. There\u2019s no quit in me. I\u2019m gonna keep on pushing and be the best stock-car driver that I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
What fuels Legge is the \u201ctomboy\u201d spirit of her youth. She raced go-karts at 9 and was drawn to the competitiveness and camaraderie, becoming hooked.<\/p>\n
The self-proclaimed \u201cadrenaline junkie\u201d still has that fierce mentality each time she steps into her car. But she\u2019s also fueled by the opportunity to show that NASCAR drivers have some personality.<\/p>\n
As NASCAR continues to evolve and grow, Legge said that showcasing the drivers\u2019 personalities is one way to expand its fan base and increase the number of women in pit crews or behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not some plug-and-play robots,\u201d said Legge, who\u2019s British. \u201cBecause of us showing up and representing, [young girls] are seeing that they have a car to cheer for. I might not be their favorite, but there\u2019s somebody out there who recognizes that they\u2019re there and is doing the activity toward them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Legge, who has raced for more than 20 years and has made five Xfinity starts, visibility is the key. And Sunday is a big stage for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the numbers on TV, and there\u2019s millions of people every weekend watching these races,\u201d Legge said. \u201cAnd I desperately want to be some people\u2019s favorite driver one day. So I\u2019m working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This NASCAR season has been one of firsts for Katherine Legge. It\u2019s her first in the NASCAR Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-35261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114789274325761523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}