North Carolina team to debut NASCAR's 1st woman in a Cup race since Danica Patrick

Joe Marusak, The Charlotte Observer on Mar 4, 2025

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Katherine Legge is set to become the first woman driver in a NASCAR Cup series race since Danica Patrick retired in 2018, Mooresville-based Live Fast Motorsports said Monday.

Legge will make her Cup series debut in the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway Sunday. She’ll drive the No. 78 Droplight Chevy Camaro.

“Entering the NASCAR Cup Series is a dream come true,” the 44-year-old driver said in an announcement on Team Live Fast.com.

Indianapolis 500 record

Live Fast Motorsports is a single-car, Chevy Camaro Cup series team co-owned by B.J. and Jessica McLeod. B.J. competes part-time, and Jessica is team CEO.

Jessica called Legge “a versatile and dynamic, championship-winning driver.”

At the Indianapolis 500 in 2023, she set the record for fastest qualifying time by a woman. In 2005, she became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America.

Legge also had podium finishes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and participated in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, according to her bio on the Live Fast Motorsports website.

She also drove in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

'New challenge,' Legge says

Her Cup series debut also will mark the first time in 10 years that a woman race car driver and owner have teamed up to compete since Patrick in 2010 with Kelley Earnhardt Miller of Mooresville-based JR Motorsports.

Earnhardt Miller co-owns JR Motorsports with her brother Dale Earnhardt Jr., the NASCAR Hall of Famer and 15-time, fan-elected Most Popular Driver.

“Racing stock cars has been an incredibly fun and new challenge that’s given me a renewed sense of vigor for this sport,” Legge said.

“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,” she said.

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