Legge wants to prove she belongs in NASCAR on Phoenix debut

Katherine Legge wants to prove she belongs in NASCAR as she prepares for her Cup Series debut at Phoenix this weekend.

Legge has secured a last-minute seat in Live Fast Motorsport’s #78 Chevrolet for the fourth round of the season at Phoenix Raceway on 9 March.

This would make her the first female driver to take part in NASCAR’s top division since Danica Patrick made her final start at Daytona 500 in 2018.

While she brings a versatile CV with her to the Cup Series, having driven in a large variety of single-seater and sportscar racing championships, her experience in stock cars is rather limited.

The Briton has just five starts to her name in the Xfinity series, plus a single outing in the ARCA Menards Series race at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year.

Legge is aware that its would be unrealistic for her to fight at the front in her maiden Cup race, but equally she wants to show that she deserves a place in the series.

“I want to finish all the laps, I want to do a good job, I want to minimse the mistakes – everybody makes mistakes and I want to minimise them,” she said when asked about her goals for her debut.

”I want to stay out of trouble and show respect and prove that I belong [here]. So I think if I can do those things then I will get the opportunity to do more.”

Legge’s deal with Live Fast Motorsport only covers the Phoenix race, but she hopes a strong race at Phoenix will open up more opportunities for her in the long term.

Asked if she’d like to appear in more races this year, the 44-year-old added: “That would be awesome, I would love to do that.

“I don’t think we have any expectation that we are gonna go out and be competitive.