KATHERINE LEGGE Returns to Cup Series as e.l.f. Powers NASCAR Push in Mexico

June 12, 2025

by Mitchell Northam // from www.sbnation.com

GRRL! SUMMARY:

KATHERINE LEGGE is making her second NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend in Mexico City, backed by e.l.f. Cosmetics in a partnership that’s allowing her to run the most NASCAR races of any single season in her 25-year career. The 44-year-old holds the women’s qualifying record at Indianapolis 500 and was the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America, but she’s now all-in on conquering stockcar racing after catching the NASCAR bug in 2018.
The veteran driver faced the ugly side of motorsports misogyny earlier this year when she received death threats after an Xfinity Series wreck that wasn’t her fault, but she’s developed thick skin over two decades of being “the only woman in a male dominated sport.” LEGGE sees the authentic progress in NASCAR’s diversity efforts, noting that “people in racing are being hired because that’s the best person for the job” rather than tokenism.
Road racing at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez should play to LEGGE’s strengths – she won the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY there in 2019 and road courses are where she’s built her reputation across Formula E, IMSA, and IndyCar. While she hasn’t finished better than 30th in five NASCAR races this season, each rep in the “big and burly” stockcars is building toward her goal of proving herself in what she calls “the most competitive championship in the world.”