Katherine Legge gives major update on “Cup redemption chase” after HUMILIATING debut
British female racer Katherine Legge has shared her thoughts on a potential Cup return after her disastrous debut at Phoenix.
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Katherine Legge (Via @IndyCar/X)
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway marked a unique moment, as it marked the first time a female driver racing in the top tier of stock car racing, since 2018. British racer Katherine Legge, who is known for her IndyCar and Sports Car racing, made her debut with Live Fast Motorsports.
In the own words of Katherine Legge, the debut ended up being a humiliating experience. She failed to adjust to racing the Next-Gen car in the traffic, and had multiple spins, with the last one of it causing a wreck involving Daniel Suarez ending her racer. This resulted in a lot of controversy, criticism and even demands urging NASCAR to change driver approval process.
Despite the disappointments and criticism, Legge is not ready to give up and in a recent interview shared his verdict of a Cup return. She pointed out that she definite want to race in the Cup series owing to the fact that she sees a future there and wants loves the paddock. Legge is looking forward for a redemption run.
I think the naysayers are wrong, so I’m definitely going to go back and try again. I love the NASCAR paddock, and I see a future there – and anyway I need redemption now, right?
Katherine Legge said via CNN.
What was the root cause of Katherine Legge’s debut going south?
One of the biggest reasons behind the failure of Legge to finish the race was her lack experience racing in the top tier. Though she has raced in NASCAR before, it has been a limited Truck and Xfinity races, and with the new car the same experience doesn’t give any edge.
The lack of testing or proper practice time before the Cup race weekend, meant she had very limited time to adjust with everything. Legge highlighted all these factors as the treasons behind her Cup series racing debut producing disappointing results.
There is no testing, there is no practice, there is literally one session before qualifying and then you go race, understand making your way up through the ladder series, like doing Xfinity and trucks, but the Next Gen Cup car doesn’t drive like an Xfinity or a truck at all, in any way, shape or form, it’s kind of its own unique beast. To get experience, you have to do the races.
Katherine Legge said.
How these issues can be fixed?
Two times Cup Series champion Kyle Busch suggestion following the driver’s approval controversy seems to be the perfect way to fix the issues. It’s simple, expands the practice time for the less experienced Cup drivers.
Give them like four-hour sessions instead of the current 20 general process time to understand the cars and track. This will eliminate any additional cost teams will have for personal testing and will encourage teams to give opportunity to more youngsters.
There are some issues though, as the Cup teams with more resources might take advantage of it by using this as extra test sessions. So, NASCAR has to have proper guidelines, before implementing any such systems.
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