Katherine Legge set for second NASCAR Cup Sequence 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 kinds of totally different machines.

Choose a automotive, any automotive, and the 44-year-old native of Surrey, England, has in all probability pressed her foot on that pedal as arduous as she will. She’s maneuvered it round speedways and brief tracks and highway programs at dizzying speeds.

The Indianapolis 500? Examine.

24 Hours of Daytona? Examine.

Ferraris in Bahrain? Examine.

Audis in Germany? Examine.

How concerning the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, or the A1 Grand Prix, or Components E, or the IMSA SportsCar Championship, or the 12 Hours of Sebring? Examine, test, test, test, test.

Legge holds the report for the quickest qualifying time by a girl on the Indy 500 and was the primary girl to win a serious open-wheel race in North America. She’s damaged obstacles, smashed ceilings and received an entire lot of races in an entire 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 Sequence races, even inserting 14th on the Street America course in Wisconsin.

Now, she’s all-in on NASCAR.

“I’ve raced in open wheel, I’ve raced in sports activities automobiles, and I hadn’t performed a lot in stockcars. I did a number of 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 this 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 Sequence race when she drove her No. 78 Chevrolet within the Shriners Youngsters’s 500 in Phoenix.

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

Picture by Sean Gardner/Getty Photos

Legge’s relationship with e.l.f. started greater than two years in the past. Final yr, they have been her major 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 presupposed to accomplice with Legge once more this yr 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 positively a distinct demographic. And I believe that demographic would actually respect the activation,” Legge mentioned. “It’s a really highly effective factor to have an organization like that backing you. It simply offers it a lot credibility and it makes it very actual for all the ladies within the stands as properly.”

A survey final yr discovered that 41 % of NASCAR followers are ladies. Earlier this season, Alex Bowman drove a automotive in Miami with a paint scheme that promoted Unmatched, the 3-on-3 skilled ladies’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 Sport.

For Legge, her partnership with e.l.f. is paving the best way for her to race in additional NASCAR races than she ever has earlier than in a single season. She’s pushed in 4 Xfinity Sequence races this yr and plans to do a minimum of two extra, along with a minimum of 5 Cup Sequence races. A specific one which she’s trying ahead to is the highway race at Watkins Glen in August.

Legge says e.l.f. will likely be her major 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 yr,” Legge mentioned of her partnership with e.l.f. “They’re a cult model. Each girl is aware of who they’re. They’ve a very, actually good repute. So, I’m proud to signify them… I’ve beloved it a lot as a result of I’ve been making an attempt to encourage extra ladies into racing and do the entire — to not sound cliche — lady energy factor. It’s one of many solely sports activities the place we will compete equally.”

At present, 25-year-old Toni Breidenger is the one girl racing full-time in one in every of NASCAR’s high three touring circuits, driving within the Craftsman Truck Sequence. However extra ladies appear to be climbing the ranks and competing in a number of the decrease tiers of the game. 20-year-old Isabella Robusto positioned third at Talladega within the ARCA Menards Sequence in April, marking the most effective end ever by a girl 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 assume that variety is trending in the suitable route in NASCAR.

“I believe it’s bettering in an genuine means. Like, folks aren’t being employed and racing due to their gender or their race — folks in racing are being employed as a result of that’s the most effective particular person for the job. And now I believe individuals are extra open to the most effective particular person for the job being totally different, proper? And so, that makes my coronary heart joyful,” 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 one’s are available in and proved themselves but… To be the most effective, you need to beat the most effective.”

Picture by James Gilbert/Getty Photos

Legge witnessed the worst aspect of misogyny in racing earlier this yr after being concerned in a wreck in an Xfinity Sequence 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 mentioned she obtained 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 notice how poisonous social media may be typically the place folks really feel emblazoned as a result of they’re hiding behind a keyboard… Those that have been delivered to 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 will have bothered me. So, I believe it must be addressed. It must 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.

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

In 5 NASCAR races thus far 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 greatest.

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.

“Street racing is my background. It’s what I’ve been doing for the final 20 years. So, it’ll really feel extra pure to me,” Legge mentioned. “However once more, the automotive is totally totally different… It’s huge and burly, and you need to muscle that factor round. The extra expertise I get in NASCAR, the higher. I’m not towards racing no matter, nonetheless, to make me a greater driver.”