It hasn’t had the build-up of previous attempts at the Indy-Charlotte “Double,” largely because it was almost literally a last-minute deal, but Katherine Legge is indeed set to become just the sixth racer to attempt the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
That’s potentially a Sunday total of 600 laps and 1,100 combined miles, though that’s a very tall order — in 10 combined attempts by the five racers who previously tried this, only once has every lap of both races been turned.
Chevrolet will power both of Legge’s cars, which will be fielded by teams you’d certainly label longshot entries.
First, some background on Katherine Legge
For starters, it’s pronounced Leg.
She is is a 45-year-old veteran racer from Surrey, England. After moving to the U.S. to pursue her racing career, she settled outside Atlanta.
She came up racing various open-wheel feeder series in Britain, including Formula Three, Formula Renault and Formula Ford.
In North America, Legge has primarily raced Indy-style cars (47 career starts, including four Indy 500s) and sports-cars (101 starts, including 12 Rolex 24s) before trying her hand at NASCAR stock cars last year.
Katherine Legge’s race teams providing cars for the Double
For the Indianapolis 500, she’ll be driving the No. 11 Chevrolet entry that’s a collaboration between Indiana-based HMD Racing and A.J. Foyt Racing. She qualified 26th of 33 entries and will start on Row 9 alongside Kyle Kirkwood and Mick Schumacher.
At Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600, she’ll be in the No. 78 Chevy of Live Fast Motorsports, a non-chartered independent team owned by veteran racer B.J. McLeod. Qualifying is Saturday, but with 39 entries and a maximum field of 40, she’s guaranteed to make the race.
What are Katherine Legge’s odds during her double attempt?
The oddsmakers don’t like them, largely because she’s not in full-time, frontline equipment. At Indy, only Jacob Abel’s odds are worse than Legge’s +25000 at Hard Rock Bets. At Charlotte, she shares the longest odds with Cody Ware and Timmy Hill, at +250000.
What’s Katherine Legge’s Indy 500 record?
She started the Indianapolis 500 in 2012-13 and again in 2023-24. Her best finish was 22nd in her first attempt in 2012.
What’s Katherine Legge’s NASCAR record?
Legge made the first of eight Cup Series starts early last year. Five of her eight races have been on road courses, though her best finish (17th) came in last year’s Brickyard 400 on the Indy oval.
In 11 O’Reilly Series starts, her best finish was a 14th on the Elkhart Lake road course in 2018.
Yes, she’s won races before
In 2017-18, driving for Michael Shank in the IMSA WeatherTech Series, Legge was a co-driver for four GTD class wins, each in an Acura GT3.
She also won three times in the 2005 open-wheel Atlantic Championship series, driving for Polestar Racing Group.
Drivers who have tried the Indy-Charlotte double
John Andretti, in 1994, was first to show it could be done. Since then, four others have done it, including Robby Gordon, who did it five times, and Tony Stewart, who did it twice and not only was running at the end of all four, but posted four top-10s. In 2001, he finished sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte, completing all 600 laps and 1,100 miles.
Kurt Busch (2014) and Kyle Larson (2025) also did the double. Larson also attempted it in 2024, but an Indy rain delay kept him from arriving in Charlotte on time to start that race, and it was rained out by the time he got there.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Katherine Legge is sixth to try Indy 500-NASCAR double. Here’s her story
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
