Legge Goes On Double Duty

As confirmed by Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass just hours ago, Indianapolis 500 entrant Katherine Legge will also compete at this year’s NASCAR Coca-Cola World 600, making her the seventh driver and first woman ever to attempt the Memorial Day Double.

The timing of the announcement makes this all a shock, but it’s been clear for a while that Legge wanted to do something like this. Aside from her general willingness to drive anything anywhere, earlier this year, she spoke openly about wanting to attempt a Desert Double in Phoenix, but was unable to secure a ride on either side of the aisle in time. However, that clearly didn’t daunt her, and by leveraging her connections, she’ll now run the A.J. Foyt #11 here and the Live Fast #78 there, with both machines sponsored by e.l.f. and powered by Chevrolet. As a warmup on the NASCAR side, she drove that #78 at Watkins Glen on Sunday, coming home a lowly 35th, but still beating series stars William Byron and Joey Logano by multiple laps on sheer attrition.

It’s worth nothing that A.J. Foyt Racing have reached the podium twice in the last three Indy 500s, including David Malukas’s runner-up effort last year. In theory, at least, Legge is working with a competitive outfit that will give her the equipment to place well as long as the luck and execution are there. The same cannot be said of her NASCAR ride. Live Fast’s lone Camaro is a known hunk of junk, and Legge squeezing two finishes in the top 20 out of it last season, including 17th at the Brickyard 400, was a genuine feat. Suffice to say, if you’re going to follow her to Prime Video after the 500, don’t expect her to duplicate that worst-to-first run Ross Chastain pulled off to win the 600 last year.

However, the nature of Double Duty fundamentally reframes the challenge of both events entailed. She’ll have to cover 1,100 miles on track, a longer distance than either of Robert Kubica’s two teammates drove in their shared Ferrari to win last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a much shorter period of time without the ability to get out and let someone else drive for a while. The closest thing to recovery time she’ll get is a flight from Indianapolis to Charlotte between the two races. For proof of how much even a shortened attempt can take out of a driver, look no further than Kyle Larson, who crashed at both races last year and has been zapped ever since. While he was able to win his second NASCAR Cup through attrition and consistency, his only race wins have come either on dirt or by Buschwhacking in NASCAR’s second tier. But Legge didn’t become racing’s Renaissance woman by backing down from challenges, and by taking this on, she’ll add yet another chapter to her trailblazing record of achievements. Wherever she ends up on the box scores, this is an underdog story we can all get behind.