Katherine Legge will drive in either the Xfinity or Cup Series in 12 of the next 18 weekends as she works toward a more compete NASCAR schedule and show that despite what happened at Phoenix “I am a damn good race car driver.”
Legge’s schedule through mid-August was announced Tuesday morning. The 44-year-old from Guilford, England, whose diverse career in motorsports includes IndyCars, IMSA and Formula E, is focused on NASCAR. She became the first woman to compete in a Cup race earlier this season since 2018.
Legge will run seven Xfinity races with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, beginning with Saturday’s race at Rockingham Speedway. Legge will compete in five Cup races with Live Fast Motorsports. Her sponsors will be e.l.f. Cosmetics, DROPLight, Sherfick Companies and Desnuda Tequila.
Four of her five Cup races — Mexico City, Chicago Street Race, Sonoma and Watkins Glen — will be on either a road or street course, which fits her background in racing. Her other Cup start is scheduled to be Aug. 17 at Richmond.
Richmond will be her first Cup start on an oval since she made her series debut at Phoenix in March. She spun twice in the race. The second spin collected Daniel Suarez, leading to online criticism and also sparking a debate about NASCAR’s approval process for drivers.
Legge said she is aware of the comments but is focused on moving forward to fulfill her goal of racing regularly in NASCAR.
“I licked my wounds for sure,” Legge told NBC Sports, “but I haven’t been around in motorsports for 20 years professionally by giving up on anything.
“I know (Phoenix) wasn’t my best work. I made a mistake, right? I made a lot of mistakes during the race, tried to minimize them. … And then there was that one mistake that obviously ended Daniel’s race and cost me my reputation, which I intend to get back. But it was a mistake.
“You see these guys making mistakes even when they’ve been doing it for decades. So to be vilified on one mistake, I feel like was really unfair. I am a damn good race car driver, and I will come back and prove that was just a blip on the radar.”
Legge’s previous NASCAR experience before this year was four Xfinity starts in 2018 and one Xfinity start in 2023.
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This schedule into August gives her a steady diet of stock car experience.
“It’s invaluable, actually, to get some kind of continuity and experience going in order to kind of showcase what I am capable of,” Legge told NBC Sports.
She will drive a mix of tracks also. After Rockingham, she will do the next four Xfinity races, competing at Talladega, Texas, Charlotte and Nashville. Then she moves over to the Cup Series for the inaugural series race at Mexico City on June 15.
“I am very much looking forward to it,” Legge said of the event at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. “We tried to get things together in time for COTA, but we didn’t unfortunately. There’s a different level of comfort that comes with turning left and right.
“I’m also excited to do the ovals. I almost want to get to Richmond as much as I want to get to Mexico just because I want that monkey off my back, and I want to prove to myself that it was just a minor blip and we’re good to go.”
But her schedule might not end after the Richmond race. The rest of the season was purposely not included in case there is a particular style of track NASCAR wants her to run to gain more experience.
“This is what we need in order to get NASCAR permission to be able to run anywhere I want whenever I want, which is ultimately the goal,” Legge said.
That could lead to a possible Daytona 500 run and maybe even a return to the Indianapolis 500 next year, making her among the few to race in the signature events for NASCAR and IndyCar in the same season.
“I want to do everything that I can to A, experience all the things and B, to be the best driver that I can be and leave a legacy,” she said, “and open the door for the next generation.”
Katherine Legge’s NASCAR schedule
● April 19 – Rockingham Speedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● April 26 – Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● May 3 – Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by DROPLiGHT, Sherfick Companies, and Desnuda Tequila
● May 24 – Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● May 31 – Nashville Superspeedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● June 15 – Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, NASCAR Cup Series with Live Fast Motorsport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● June 27 – Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by DROPLiGHT, Sherfick Companies, and Desnuda Tequila
● July 6 – Chicago Street Race, NASCAR Cup Series with Live Fast Motorsport
● July 13 – Sonoma Raceway, NASCAR Cup Series with Live Fast Motorsport, sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics
● July 26 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR Xfinity Series with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, sponsored by DROPLiGHT, Sherfick Companies, and Desnuda Tequila
● August 10 – Watkins Glen International, NASCAR Cup Series with Live Fast Motorsport, sponsored by DROPLiGHT, Sherfick Companies, and Desnuda Tequila
● August 17 – Richmond Raceway, NASCAR Cup Series with Live Fast Motorsport
