Legge Blocking Out the Negatives Ahead of Historic Indy, NASCAR Double Attempt

By Dennis Krause

If all goes well, Katherine Legge will become to first woman, and sixth driver overall, to compete in what’s called “The Double” — racing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day.

But if Legge has had any luck lately, it’s all been bad. Take, for example, this week, following a media tour appearance in New York.

“I think this week has been getting everything bad luck-wise out of the way early,” Legge said, looking for a positive. “We had a disaster traveling back from New York City. It took us like a day and a half. Then this morning's practice was -- if it could have gone wrong, it did go wrong.”

Legge, who will start Sunday’s 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 26th in the No. 11 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet for HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing, ran 48 laps in Friday’s Carb Day final practice with a best lap of 222.018, last among the 33 starters in the field.

“Hopefully now we know, and we're in the clear travel-wise, car-wise, all the things. Get it out of the way today.”

Compounding Legge’s attempt at The Double is a weather forecast that is less than favorable at both tracks.

“You know what, I look at it, and I'm like: Don't look. Then don't go down that rabbit hole. It's changing all the time. So I'm trying to be like what will be will be and be relaxed about it. But it doesn't look great at the moment, I have to say.

“I don't know what happens then, like it's out of our control,” Legge offered. “If it's bad at both places, do both get delayed and then the same amount? Does it get moved to Monday? Does it still count as doing the double if you do one race on Sunday and one race on Monday?

“There's so many things that you have to just like put to the side and go it doesn't matter. It will be what it will be. I'll do my best with whatever situation is thrown at us, a bit like the last couple of days trying to get back from New York.”

Also playing on Legge’s mind is the sudden passing of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch on Thursday.

“I am devastated for Sam and the kids,” Legge said. “You know, he and Samantha were two of the nicest people to me, welcoming me to the series. A lot of the drivers don't even say hi, but they kind of -- they took the time to get to know me and give me some help and advice, and I would class them as friends now.

“So it's desperately sad. It's also one of those things where you try not to think about it or let it in because you've got so much to do, you can't let yourself get emotional. But honestly, racing has lost one of the greatest drivers, in my opinion, of all time. If you look back at the history and just -- you know, he was a legend. I think there's a lot of shock regarding it because he was so young and so healthy.

“It's almost unbelievable, right? Like it just bangs home the fact that life is so unfair.”

As she tries to filter out the negative, what positive things does Legge allow in ahead of her attempt at history?

“That's a good question,” the 45-year-old Brit replied. “I don't know, I just keep telling myself, don't be grumpy, don't get grumpy. Everybody's working incredibly hard, and I have to remember how lucky I am and how grateful I am to be here, because I am.

“So when all of these things keep coming in, you have to remember the positives, which is like I'm here. Like okay, we were stuck on the runway for 2 1/2 hours and we had a sinkhole, and we had all these things, but hey, I'm still going back to Indy to drive the Indy 500, right?

“So you have to keep everything in, I guess, perspective. It's weird, though, because when you're trying to be numb to that, you're also numb to kind of the positives in what you let in. So you try not to be on the roller coaster of, yeah, it's awesome, and then, oh, no, the clutch isn't working or whatever it may be. Try to be kind of level-headed about it all and let it run off you like water off a duck's back.

“It's not easy. It's come with years of practice.”

Racing 1,100 miles in two separate races 578-miles apart is a test of endurance and stamina. Only one driver, Tony Stewart, has completed every lap of both races. Afterwards, he collapsed on pit road following the 600. Other drivers have received IV fluids while traveling to Charlotte after competing at Indianapolis.

One of Legge’s concerns is getting enough calories.

“I've been drinking a lot of this new sports drink called Rip It, and I'm hoping it will get me through,” Legge explained. “In all reality, nothing different. I have spoken to a few people about what I should be hydrating with in regards to like electrolytes and IVs and things like that. So I'm going to do an IV when I finish the 500 in the plane on the way to the 600. I might need one after the 600. I don't know, I hope I don't collapse.

“My biggest concern is how to get enough calories because it's probably 2,500 calories just doing Indy, maybe more, and it's another 3,000 calories plus in Charlotte. Which is a lot of energy that you're expending that you need to put back in. So I have Jim Leo who's given me a bunch of gels and bars and stuff like that and things I can eat.

“I have to force myself to eat on the plane because once you get out of a race car after 500 miles, you don't want to eat. You feel sick. It's hot. It's brutal. You don't want to mess your stomach up. I'm thinking can I eat in the car during the 500? Someone told me that Tony did, but then he got protein bar all over his gloves, so that didn't work out so well for him.

“So we were thinking maybe baby food. When I did Ironman a (few) years ago, I did sweet potato mashed up in a bag, which is almost like baby food. So something that doesn't mess your stomach up. There's been a lot of thought into the actual day, and I've been trying things throughout the week.

“With regard to fitness, I've not done much the last couple of weeks because we've been so busy. So I'm hoping that me training year-round is going to carry me through.”

Legge’s had multiple days and hours to prepare for the Indy 500. But she’ll only have 25-minutes of practice at Charlotte in the No.78 e.l.f. Cosmetics Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday prior to Sunday night’s race — assuming the weather cooperates.

“Maybe,” said Legge, “Maybe, yeah.

“I am praying to all of the weather gods at the moment that we get practice. I desperately need practice in the Cup car. It's going to be my second mile and a half, I think, and maybe my fifth or sixth Cup start. I do not want to turn into turn one after the green without having driven Charlotte in a car I don't know that well.

“So there is a concern that it will rain tomorrow, and if practice and qualifying gets rained out, I've been frantically asking everybody, okay, what happens then? Can we run practice on Sunday? It would be the O'Reilly race on Sunday instead. So they said no.

“Yeah, it's less than ideal. Obviously that doesn't fill me with warm and fuzzies, but again, it is what it is. We committed to doing this thing, and we're not going to not do it because I don't feel ready. I mean, it's too late for that.”

As she approaches the next couple of days preparing for both races, Legge admits compromises are going to have to be made.

“It's been quite a bit hectic with all the travel woes, honestly,” Legge allowed. “I wanted to sit down and watch last year's 600 and last year's 500 and switch between the two and get my head in the game and spend time with my engineers. I haven't had that luxury, so it feels like we're on our back foot a little bit.

“In all honesty, it's not that much to do in Charlotte. I would have loved the opportunity to go over there and drive the sim again in preparation. Unfortunately, again, with travel and everything else, that didn't happen. So we will do our best, and I don't know when I'm going to get the chance now because we've got a pretty packed schedule.

“I'll figure it out. It's either that or sleeping. It's preparation or sleep. So there's got to be a compromise in there somewhere.”

The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to take the green flag at 12:45 PM (ET) while the Coca-Cola 600 is to start at 6:29 PM (ET).

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

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