Katherine Legge set for second NASCAR Cup Collection begin in Mexico Metropolis

In a profession in racing that spans greater than 25 years, Katherine Legge has pushed in dozens of races in all forms of completely different machines.

Decide a automotive, any automotive, and the 44-year-old native of Surrey, England, has most likely pressed her foot on that pedal as exhausting as she will be able to. She’s maneuvered it round speedways and brief tracks and highway programs at dizzying speeds.

The Indianapolis 500? Verify.

24 Hours of Daytona? Verify.

Ferraris in Bahrain? Verify.

Audis in Germany? Verify.

How concerning the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, or the A1 Grand Prix, or Method E, or the IMSA SportsCar Championship, or the 12 Hours of Sebring? Verify, verify, verify, verify, verify.

Legge holds the document for the quickest qualifying time by a lady on the Indy 500 and was the primary girl to win a significant open-wheel race in North America. She’s damaged boundaries, smashed ceilings and received a complete lot of races in a complete lot of locations.

However on this stage of her profession, the mountain that she has set her sights on climbing is in NASCAR, the stockcar competitors birthed almost 80 years in the past within the hills of North Carolina as moonshiners settled who had the quickest machine to outrun revenuers. She caught the stockcar bug in 2018 when she competed in a handful of second-tier Xfinity Collection races, even inserting 14th on the Highway America course in Wisconsin.

Now, she’s all-in on NASCAR.

“I’ve raced in open wheel, I’ve raced in sports activities vehicles, and I hadn’t performed a lot in stockcars. I did just a few in 2018 and I beloved it and I needed to do extra. I simply didn’t know the way to break into it,” Legge instructed SB Nation earlier this week. “By way of numbers of actually good drivers, it’s probably the most aggressive championship on the planet. When the chance arose, I jumped on it and grabbed it with each palms.”

Again in March, Legge grew to become the primary girl since Danica Patrick in 2018 to compete in a NASCAR Cup Collection race when she drove her No. 78 Chevrolet within the Shriners Youngsters’s 500 in Phoenix.

Now, due to a sponsorship with e.l.f., she’s planning to compete in stockcars rather more usually. This weekend, she’ll make her second Cup Collection begin as NASCAR goes to Mexico Metropolis for a highway race. It’s the primary factors race within the Cup Collection that has been held exterior of the U.S. since 1958.

Photograph by Sean Gardner/Getty Photographs

Legge’s relationship with e.l.f. started greater than two years in the past. Final 12 months, they have been her main sponsor for the Indy 500, marking the fourth time she’s pushed in what’s sometimes called the Best Spectacle in Racing. The cosmetics firm was alleged to accomplice with Legge once more this 12 months for the Indy 500, however they couldn’t safe a automotive. In order that they pivoted after Legge known as e.l.f. and requested, what about NASCAR?

“It’s a distinct market. It’s undoubtedly a distinct demographic. And I believe that demographic would actually respect the activation,” Legge stated. “It’s a really highly effective factor to have an organization like that backing you. It simply provides it a lot credibility and it makes it very actual for all the ladies within the stands as nicely.”

A survey final 12 months discovered that 41 p.c of NASCAR followers are girls. Earlier this season, Alex Bowman drove a automotive in Miami with a paint scheme that promoted Unmatched, the 3-on-3 skilled girls’s basketball league co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. At North Wilkesboro in Could, Carson Hocevar’s Chevy featured the Indiana Fever and promoted the WNBA All-Star Recreation.

For Legge, her partnership with e.l.f. is paving the way in which for her to race in additional NASCAR races than she ever has earlier than in a single season. She’s pushed in 4 Xfinity Collection races this 12 months and plans to do not less than two extra, along with not less than 5 Cup Collection races. A selected one which she’s wanting ahead to is the highway race at Watkins Glen in August.

Legge says e.l.f. will likely be her main sponsor for many of these races, however she’s additionally working with the solutions-driven firm DropLight and Desnuda Tequila.

“It’s permitting me to do all of the issues this 12 months,” Legge stated of her partnership with e.l.f. “They’re a cult model. Each girl is aware of who they’re. They’ve a extremely, actually good fame. So, I’m proud to characterize them… I’ve beloved it a lot as a result of I’ve been making an attempt to encourage extra girls into racing and do the entire — to not sound cliche — lady energy factor. It’s one of many solely sports activities the place we are able to compete equally.”

Presently, 25-year-old Toni Breidenger is the one girl racing full-time in considered one of NASCAR’s high three touring circuits, driving within the Craftsman Truck Collection. However extra girls appear to be climbing the ranks and competing in among the decrease tiers of the game. 20-year-old Isabella Robusto positioned third at Talladega within the ARCA Menards Collection in April, marking one of the best end ever by a lady on the superspeedway. Lanie Buice, 18, has 5 top-10 finishes this season throughout ARCA and the CARS Tour.

In a sport nonetheless largely dominated by straight white males, Legge does suppose that range is trending in the suitable course in NASCAR.

“I believe it’s enhancing in an genuine method. Like, individuals aren’t being employed and racing due to their gender or their race — individuals in racing are being employed as a result of that’s one of the best particular person for the job. And now I believe individuals are extra open to one of the best particular person for the job being completely different, proper? And so, that makes my coronary heart completely satisfied,” Legge says. “However I believe that it’s nonetheless a problem. It’s nonetheless very a lot a boys membership, however that’s as a result of no person’s are available in and proved themselves but… To be one of the best, it’s important to beat one of the best.”

Photograph by James Gilbert/Getty Photographs

Legge witnessed the worst facet of misogyny in racing earlier this 12 months after being concerned in a wreck in an Xfinity Collection race in Rockingham, North Carolina. William Sawalich ran into Legge’s rear which despatched her automotive spinning, knocking into Kasey Khane. Following the race, Legge stated she acquired loss of life threats.

“I really feel prefer it wasn’t deserved, as a result of Rockingham was not my fault,” Legge says. “It simply makes you understand how poisonous social media will be typically the place individuals really feel emblazoned as a result of they’re hiding behind a keyboard… Those that have been dropped at my consideration, we form of laughed about, truthfully. I’ve developed an actual thick pores and skin being the one girl in a male dominated sport. But when it was 18-year-old Katherine, it could have bothered me. So, I believe it needs to be addressed. It needs to be stopped.”

The veteran driver says she isn’t fueled by these hateful messages and stays unbothered by them. Considerably surprisingly, she noticed a silver lining in all of it too.

“Actually, I imply, it’s nice that the NASCAR followers are so passionate. I believe the loss of life threats went a bit far,” Legge stated with fun. “The extra it does get known as out, the extra individuals will really feel completely ridiculous for the issues that they are saying. It’s pathetic, truthfully.”

In 5 NASCAR races to this point this season, between the Cup and Xfinity ranges, Legge has but to complete higher than thirtieth.

She’s hoping that her familiarity with the course in Mexico Metropolis — the long-lasting Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit — will assist, as a result of it’s a spot the place Legge has received. She took the checkered flag on the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race there in 2019. And highway racing is arguably what Legge does finest.

Whether or not she finishes first or thirtieth although, she is aware of that extra reps in stockcars will solely assist her enhance in the long term.

“Highway racing is my background. It’s what I’ve been doing for the final 20 years. So, it should really feel extra pure to me,” Legge stated. “However once more, the automotive is totally completely different… It’s massive and burly, and it’s important to muscle that factor round. The extra expertise I get in NASCAR, the higher. I’m not in opposition to racing no matter, nevertheless, to make me a greater driver.”