Katherine Legge will make her inaugural appearance as a NASCAR Cup Series competitor this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Legge, a 44-year-old motorsports competitor and trailblazer from Guildford, United Kingdom, will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet entry for Live Fast Motorsports. DROPLiGHT will sponsor her.
The news comes as Legge recently made her ARCA Menards Series debut at Daytona International Speedway in February with Sigma Performance Services. With her participation this weekend at Phoenix, she is set to become the first female competitor to compete in NASCAR’s premier series since Danica Patrick competed in the 2018 Daytona 500.
“Entering the NASCAR Cup Series is a dream come true,” Legge said in a released statement. “I’m excited to team up with Live Fast Motorsports for Phoenix, and to represent our sponsors DROPLiGHT and Sherfick Companies. Racing stockcars has been an incredibly fun and new challenge that’s given me a renewed sense of vigor for this sport. As always, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do what I love and am inspired by all of the effort, preparation and behind the scenes work it takes to get here.”
Legge enters the Cup Series division with a rich trailblazing legacy in motorsports competition. In 2005, she became the first female competitor to win a major open-wheel event in North America after she won the Toyota Atlantic Championship event in Long Beach, California. Eighteen years later, she became the fastest female competitor to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, where she posted a speed of 231.627 mph. To date, she has made four career starts in the Indy 500 with her best on-track result being a 22nd-place run in 2012 with Dragon Racing.
Legge is the first female competitor to lead in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which occurred in 2016, and an American Le Mans Series event, the latter of which occurred at Road America in 2013. She is also the first female competitor to receive the prestigious British Racing Drivers Club “Rising Star” award in 2002 and to be inducted into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame in 2024.
Having previously competed in the Champ Car World Series, IndyCar and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship divisions, Legge also competed in a total of five NASCAR Xfinity Series events. She made four starts with JD Motorsports in 2018, where she posted a career-best 14th-place result at Road America in August 2018, and made her recent start at Road America with SS-Green Light Racing in July 2023.
For the 2025 season, Legge is set to become the second competitor to drive the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports entry in the Cup division. Earlier this year, BJ McLeod, who did not qualify for the 67th running of the Daytona 500, drove the No. 78 entry to a 22nd-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Live Fast Motorsports is still scheduled to compete in the Talladega Superspeedway events, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, the series’ second visit to Atlanta in June and the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway in August.
“We’re happy to partner with Katherine for this race,” Jessica McLeod, CEO/co-owner of Live Fast Motorsports, said. “The opportunity to have such a versatile and dynamic championship winning driver join our program is exciting for everyone on our team. This partnership reflects our commitment to providing opportunities for drivers making their way into the NASCAR Cup series in the Next Gen era.”
Katherine Legge’s NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix Raceway for the Shriners Children’s 500 will take place this Sunday, March 9th. The event will be broadcast on FS1 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
