Katherine Legge issues NASCAR return statement after controversial Cup Series debut

Katherine Legge has spoken out about the reaction to her NASCAR debut last weekend.

The British driver came into the series on late notice without much experience in stock car racing, and struggled on debut.

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An early spin brought out a caution, before Legge drove around 200 uneventful laps before spinning while being lapped – collecting Daniel Suarez and wrecking the both of them, when Suarez was running in sixth.

Legge has had a long and successful career in open wheel racing and sportscar racing, but her lack of a track record in stock car racing led Suarez to criticize NASCAR's decision to allow her to enter the race.

From Daniel Suarez's vlog: He didn't take fault with Katherine Legge so much as with NASCAR for letting her race Cup with little experience in stock cars.

"There's nothing wrong with her. What is wrong is NASCAR. They cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup… https://t.co/ECkyWEwP0d pic.twitter.com/L6xHud8LVw

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 11, 2025

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Will Katherine Legge return to NASCAR?

Speaking to RACER this week, Legge revealed that she'd spoken to Suarez in the aftermath of the race, saying: “I made lots of phone calls. Daniel was very sweet, actually, very kind and understanding.

"He was like, ‘Listen, I don’t blame you. Of course, what happened was less than ideal for me.’ Which I said, ‘Listen, it was not intention. I know that doesn’t make that any better, but I was trying my best to stay out of trouble actually, and it was just a mistake.’”

“He said, and I think this sentiment has been echoed across many platforms, is that it’s not really fair for new people going to a series to not be able to gain experience and just be thrown in at the top level. While I’ve been thrown into the top level of motorsports in many different disciplines, normally you have a test or something like that, and these cars aren’t particularly easy to drive.

"So, I think that it definitely puts a spotlight on this sport and again, they say, there’s no such thing as bad press but after this week, I beg to differ.”

She also revealed plans to return to NASCAR in some form, with more Xfinity Series races a distinct possibility.

“I had somebody from another team call me today and say, 'part of me thought that you were going to say, OK, I don’t want to do this anymore or this isn’t for me',” she said. “I was like, hell no. You don’t know me very well, but all this does is make me dig my heels in and go, you know what, I’m going to prove everybody wrong, because I know that I’m a good race car driver and this was just a blip in the matrix.”

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