Katherine Legge will be tackling the Memorial Day Weekend ‘Double’ challenge. She will compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, May 24.
BRANDed Management announced that Legge will return to Live Fast Motorsports for NASCAR’s longest crown-jewel event, the Coca-Cola 600. She will pilot the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Before the Coke 600, Legge will pilot the No. 11 Dallara-Chevrolet entry for HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing for this year’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She will be sponsored by e.l.f Cosmetics for both events.
“It’s an exciting time,” Legge said when speaking about her decision to USA TODAY Sports. “It’s another groundbreaking thing that I can showcase to the world,” she said. “Really, that if you set your mind to things, you can do anything. And you can do things that maybe you never even dreamt of before. It requires a level of endurance and precision that very few in history have pursued. I don’t know whether that makes me crazy or not for wanting to do it.”
Legge, a 45-year-old racing veteran from Guildford, Surrey, England, has made four previous starts in the Indy 500. Her best result was a 22nd-place finish during her first start in 2012 with Dragon Racing. Her recent start in the event was in 2024 with Dale Coyne Racing, where she finished in 29th place. In 2023, she set the record for the fastest qualifying effort by a female competitor. She completed a four-lap average-qualifying run of 231.070 mph while driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
In addition to making four Indy 500 and 47 NTT INDYCAR Series career starts, Legge has also made 11 starts in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and eight in the Cup Series. She recently competed in the Cup event at Watkins Glen International with Live Fast Motorsports. She finished 35th in the 38-car field.
Additional accomplishments for Legge in motorsports include being the first female competitor to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Legge also secured four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victories in the GT Daytona Class. She was also the first female competitor to win a premier open-wheel event in North America. She did so by notching her first victory at the Streets of Long Beach, California, in the 2005 Toyota Atlantic Championship season. Legge is also the first female competitor to lead laps in the Champ Car World Series, which occurred in 2006. In April 2024, Legge was inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame.
In mid-April, it was announced that Legge will compete in this year’s Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She will have a guaranteed starting spot in the race known as the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. This is due to the event’s entry list featuring a maxed-out field of 33 entries. If Legge completes all 1,100 miles, she will be the first female to do so. She would also join John Andretti, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart as the only competitors to accomplish this feat. To date, Stewart is the lone competitor to complete all 1,100 miles during the double, which occurred in 2001.
Larson was the most recent competitor to attempt the double over the previous two seasons. It was a joint partnership between Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports. Larson completed all 500 miles during the 2024 Indy 500. But he did not compete in the Coke 600 due to a delayed start in the Indy 500. Due to the delayed start of the Indy 500, Larson did not arrive in time to start the Coke 600. This past season, Larson managed to start and compete in both events, but wrecked out of both.
Practice for this year’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 continues on May 13-15 before qualifications occur on May 16-17. The ’500’ is scheduled to occur on May 24, with the pre-race show to commence at 10 a.m. ET before the event commences at 12:30 p.m. ET, both airing on FOX.
The 2026 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on May 24 at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
