Just weeks after it was revealed that Katherine Legge would return for her fifth Indianapolis 500 attempt, Legge’s agency, BRANDed Management, has announced she will attempt ‘The Double’ by entering in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on May 24 as well.
Legge, who’s driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for HMD Motorsports with AJ Foyt Racing in the Indy 500, will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports in the Coke 600. She drove that car in NASCAR’s Go Bowling at The Glen race this weekend, finishing 35th of 40 in the race. That is the only NASCAR Cup race Legge has done so far this year after driving in seven for Live Fast Motorsports last year. Her primary sponsor in both races will be e.l.f. Cosmetics.
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“Very few drivers ever get the opportunity to attempt ‘The Double,’ and I do not take that opportunity lightly,” Legge said in a news release. “This challenge is about pushing through perceived limits, betting on yourse.l.f., taking risks, and trying to do something unique. I am so incredibly grateful to e.l.f. Cosmetics for believing in what this moment represents and for building a community around it.”
This will be the third consecutive year that someone attempts The Double after Kyle Larson did so for Arrow McLaren in each of the past two years. In 2024, Larson finished 18th in the Indy 500, but the race’s four-hour rain delay kept him from driving in the Coke 600. Last year, Larson crashed in both races and did not finish either.
Legge will become the sixth driver to attempt the feat, joining John Andretti (1994), Robby Gordon (2000, 2002-04), Tony Stewart (1999, 2001), Kurt Busch (2014) and Larson (2024-25). She will be the first woman to try it. Stewart is the only driver to have completed all 1,100 miles and 600 laps, which he did in 2001. Gordon finished on track in both races in 2002, although he wasn’t on the lead lap when the Coke 600 ended.
“I don’t think it’s off the table,” Legge told IndyStar last year about doing The Double. “I think it would be cool to do it and be the first woman to do it. But I’m not sure that it fits the whole ‘trying to do everything properly’ part from what I’ve heard from (Larson). But it’s absolutely on our radar, and I think it would be really something cool to look back on and be able to say, ‘You know what? I did that. That was super, super cool,’ despite the fact that you probably don’t do either race properly.”
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In recent years, it has become harder for NASCAR drivers to pull off, since NASCAR has emphasized wanting its Cup drivers in every race to be eligible for its playoff. Drivers can be granted a playoff waiver for missing a race, which Larson got in 2024.
Ahead of the 2025 season, NASCAR announced that drivers who receive playoff waivers for any reason other than “medical absence, missing a race for the birth of a child or a family emergency, or if age restrictions prevent a driver from racing a full season” will forfeit playoff points earned in the regular season and begin the playoffs with a maximum of 2,000 points.
These guidelines make it hard for a full-time NASCAR driver like Larson to attempt The Double due to the repercussions it has on their season should the Indy 500 get delayed and cause a driver to miss the Coke 600.
“The window of time is too tight,” Larson told NBC Sports after last year’s attempt. “Even if I didn’t wreck, I don’t think I would have made it here on time and probably would have had to end that race short anyways. So I don’t really think it’s worth it. But I would love to run the Indy 500 again. Just doing The Double I think is just logistically too tough.”
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For Legge, who’s not a full-time driver in either series, attempting to do both races has no impact on championship points. She’s got the support of Chevrolet and e.l.f., allowing her to give The Double a go.
“Attempting ‘The Double’ is one of the toughest challenges in motorsports because it demands speed, endurance, and total commitment across two of racing’s biggest stages in a single day,” said Mark Stielow, Chevrolet’s director of motorsports competition. “For Katherine to take that on says a great deal about her competitiveness. Doing it in a Chevrolet makes it even more meaningful for us, because we have always taken pride in competing at the highest level, helping drivers chase ambitious goals and inspiring the next generation of female racers to pursue opportunities in both IndyCar and NASCAR.”
Legge, a 45-year-old native of England, has raced in IndyCar, NASCAR and IMSA, doing at least one race in all three premier North American series since 2024. She last raced in the Indy 500 in 2024, when she placed 29th for Dale Coyne Racing and did not finish due to a mechanical issue. Legge drove in seven IndyCar races for DCR in 2024.
The Indy 500 is set for a 12:45 p.m. green flag time while the Coke 600 is to begin at 6. Legge’s best finish in the Indy 500 came in 2012, when she finished 22nd. She has never raced in the Coke 600, although she drove in the BetMGM 300 for NASCAR’s Xfinity Series last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where she placed 34th and did not finish the race due to an accident.
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Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Katherine Legge to attempt Double of Indy 500, NASCAR Coca-Cola 600
