Katherine Legge to Attempt Historic NASCAR-IndyCar Double as First Woman

Katherine Legge will attempt to race her way into the history books later this month by becoming the first woman to complete the NASCAR-IndyCar Double.

The Double requires a driver to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Only five drivers have tried it, which covers 1,100 miles in one day. Tony Stewart is the only one to finish all 1,100 miles. He placed sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte in 2001.

John Andretti, Robbie Gordon, Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson are the other four. Larson missed the start of the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 after rain delayed the Indy 500. He crashed out of both races last season.

Legge, 45, made her NASCAR Cup Series debut last season. Her best finish was 17th at the Brickyard 400. She started her eighth career Cup race last weekend at Watkins Glen and finished 35th. She has finished 30th or worse in six of her eight starts.

This will be her fifth Indy 500, where her career best is 22nd in 2012.

"It’s meticulously organized down to the minute," Legge told USA Today. "I just have to turn left a bunch of times that day. Hopefully there's no weather issues. We'll be all over the place."

Legge's effort comes 50 years after Janet Guthrie became the first woman to run practice laps at Indy. She failed to qualify that year but went to Charlotte and finished 15th in the World 600.

The next year, Guthrie became the first woman to race in both the Daytona 500 and Indy 500.

Danica Patrick is the most recent and successful woman in both series. She finished third in the 2009 Indy 500 and started on pole for the 2013 Daytona 500.

Patrick retired after the 2018 Daytona 500. She was the last woman in the Cup Series until Legge's debut last season. Patrick never attempted the Double.

"It seems like there's nobody waiting in the wings ready to take on that mantra," Legge continued. "How many years out are we from having the next me? There's a couple of girls in the Truck Series that I don't think have what it takes to get there. We need to develop the next generation so that I can hand over the baton, so to say. But unfortunately, there seems to be this big gap these days. And it's on the IndyCar side, the open-wheel side and on the NASCAR side."