After making steady progress in her limited NASCAR starts in 2025, Katherine Legge is set to make her first start of the season this weekend at Watkins Glen International.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- After making steady progress in her limited NASCAR starts in 2025, Katherine Legge is set to make her first start of the season this weekend at Watkins Glen International.
Legge will return to the BJ McLeod-owned Live Fast Motorsports to drive the No. 78 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet this Sunday at the historic New York road course.
In 2025, Legge became the first woman to make a NASCAR Cup Series start since Danica Patrick in 2018. Now in her second year of taking a deep dive into NASCAR racing, she's kicking off her campaign at a track where she has 10 previous starts, including the 2017 Six Hours at the Glen she earned a GTD class win in from the pole.
“We’ve been looking closely at where to start my NASCAR Cup schedule this year and Watkins Glen made a lot of sense from both a timing and performance standpoint. This track has always been a favorite of mine. It’s fast, technical, and unforgiving. To be back here in the Cup car, especially with e.l.f. on board again this year, makes it really special. It’s a great way to bring together my road course roots with my newfound love for stock car racing," Legge said.
Last season, Legge made seven starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, six starts in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and a start in the ARCA Menards Series. Her starts saw her evolve from a tough Cup debut and a tough NOAPS oval debut, to scoring two top-20 finishes in Cup, including a breakthrough 17th-place finish in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Legge ultimately brought the car home in one piece in all of her other starts, including at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall.
The announcement of Legge racing Cup at Watkins Glen signals team owner BJ McLeod's seal of approval for her performance in 2025 and a Cup campaign in 2026.
“We enjoyed a lot of success together in 2025, and we are looking forward to building on that. Katherine brings a lot of experience, especially on road courses. She works well with our team and gives strong feedback, so we're excited to get back on track together and keep moving this program forward," McLeod said.
Legge is also breaking barriers in the NTT INDYCAR Series. She is set to make her fifth start in the Indianapolis 500 and will be the only woman in the field when official practice starts May 12.
Before then, Legge will get to make that return to the NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen this Sunday. The 100-lap, 245-mile race will go green on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 at 3 p.m. ET.