Social Media Erupts After Katherine Legge Spins On Lap 4 Of Her NASCAR Cup Series Debut

Tough start to her Cup Series career.

You may not be familiar with Katherine Legge if you only watch NASCAR, but the veteran of the IndyCar and IMSA SportsCar has a long resume in motorsports.

Back in 2005 she became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America when she scored a victory in her first start in the Atlantic Championship Series, and she also set the record for the fastest qualifying lap by a female driver in the Indy 500 back in 2023.

Legge has made a handful of starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series over the past few years, but today the veteran driver is making her NASCAR Cup Series debut, driving the #78 car for Live Fast Motorsports and owner BJ McLeod.

The team scaled back to part time in 2024, and generally struggles to find speed even with McLeod behind the wheel. So it was expected that Legge would struggle in her debut, because let’s face it, she’s not in the best equipment. But she seemed to gain speed during qualifying, and ahead of the race expressed her excitement to get out on the track:

She becomes the first woman to make a NASCAR Cup Series start in seven years.@katherinelegge talks with @JamieLittleTV before climbing in at Phoenix. #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/WMkk1XJvez

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 9, 2025

But unfortunately things got off to a rough start for Legge almost as soon as the green flag dropped.

Four laps into the race, Legge spun out and brought out the first caution of the day, telling her team that her car was just way too tight:

Lap 4: Early trouble for Katherine Legge. pic.twitter.com/z29cu6bcWt

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 9, 2025

First caution of the day is for Katherine Legge. Self-spun off Turn 2 in her first laps in a Cup race.

Didn't hit anything and she keeps going. pic.twitter.com/e5wjJuAqWf

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 9, 2025

Luckily she didn’t hit anything, but after the early spin, social media immediately erupted with a debate over whether she should have been in the race to begin with:

i spend all morning defending katherine legge and she spins it on her own bro i'm fucking done

— Tyler Coners (@TylerConers) March 9, 2025

katherine legge just set womens rights back like 70000 years with that one

— Cobalt AC (@CobaltSkunk) March 9, 2025

Katherine Legge on lap 4 pic.twitter.com/1dIOHWPaR9

— Wolfgang Gangwolf (@WolfgangGwolf) March 9, 2025

We didn’t let Mike Wallace drive a car at Daytona yet we let Katherine Legge get in a cup race…

— Dank Nascar Memes (@dank_nascar) March 9, 2025

Katherine Legge is already having the worst debut in NASCAR history

— Gamestop Booty (@GStopBooty) March 9, 2025

Katherine Legge is way worse than Danica.

— Herb Nicholl Jr (@MiWXChaserHN) March 9, 2025

Man NASCAR fans really just are anti-women. Katherine Legge has done literally no wrong and already has haters who allow her the privilege of living in their heads rent free. #NASCAR

— Emil Borchert (@EmilBorchert) March 9, 2025

I gave Katherine Legge 40 laps. It ended up being 4.

— Ky (@okkayky) March 9, 2025

Since the spin, it seems that Legge and her team have worked to improve the car and she’s actually running a pretty respectable race right now. She’s currently running 28th and only three laps down after a massive wreck took out several drivers a few laps ago.

(Update: As soon as I posted this she wrecked again and took out two other drivers).

With her debut today, Legge became only the 17th female driver to make a start in the NASCAR Cup Series. The last woman to race in the Cup Series was Danica Patrick, who has the most starts by a female driver with 191 after making her final start in 2018.

The first woman to compete in NASCAR was Sara Christian all the way back in 1949, and in 1977 Janet Guthrie became the first woman to lead a Cup Series race.

More recently, several female drivers have competed in NASCAR’s lower series, including Hailie Deegan, Toni Breidinger and Natalie Decker. Currently, Breidinger is the only full-time female in any of the sport’s top three series, competing full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Tricon Garage. Deegan, who started last year driving full-time in the Xfinity Series, lost her ride midway through the season and is now competing full time in the IndyCar Series.

There’s no word yet on whether Legge will attempt to make any other races in the Cup Series this season, or whether this will be her only start in 2025. With her Live Fast Motorsports team running a limited schedule and lacking the funding of the bigger teams, it seems like the only opportunities she would have to return to the sport would be at either a road course or a short track should the team choose to enter those races.

And now that she’s already got her first race (and her first spin) under her belt, maybe she’ll be more comfortable the next time she gets behind the wheel.