The ongoing NASCAR season has been filled with controversy. From inconsistent cautions to questionable penalties, the debate over officiating has been constant. Now, the focus has shifted to NASCAR’s approval process for drivers entering the Cup Series. The recent controversy began when Katherine Legge, a veteran in IndyCar racing, made her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix Raceway.

But, her debut was far from smooth. Just 4 laps into the race, Legge spun on track to pull out the first caution of the day. While she was able to save her car but failed to keep pace with the competition. With just 98 laps to go, Legge caused a multi-car crash that took out drivers like Daniel Suarez. It was a painful end for both Legge and Suarez but the incident ignited backlash. Fans and drivers started questioning NASCAR’s approval standards.

As the debate escalated, NASCAR’s winningest active driver, Kyle Busch, slammed the sanctioning body. The rowdy called the process broken and confusing. “I feel like I’ve questioned the approval process for a long, long time… there’s a lot of work that could be done to make it better. I don’t think suits and ties should be making that.” However, Busch was not alone, as Denny Hamlin echoed his sentiments.

Denny Hamlin takes a sly dig at NASCAR!

This conversation was started by Daniel Suarez who has made amends with Legge after calling her out in a furious radio rant following the crash. However, the Trackhouse Racing driver highlighted the major issue with NASCAR’s approval system stating that Legge got set up for failure in her debut. Now Hamlin’s beef with NASCAR is well documented, and he wasn’t going to let the sanctioning body off the hook for the major loop hole in their system.

“I mean, there probably needs to be a stricter process than what it is. I hate this, the way it played out last week because I feel bad for Katherine. But it does open eyes, and it should open eyes to NASCAR. We’re not very strict about who gets to run Cup cars, and it should be the most elite series. You shouldn’t be able to just come in whenever you want. I don’t know how all this works, but certainly, you’d like to see it a little bit more strict than what it is,” said Hamlin.

Denny Hamlin’s comments hold weight, especially when looking at how things unfolded for Legge. Despite her experience in open-wheel and sports car racing, she struggled in Phoenix. She was nearly a second off the pace in practice, which is significant at NASCAR’s highest level. During the race, she lost control twice, with the second incident taking Suarez out of contention. This was a direct consequence of NASCAR allowing a driver with minimal experience in stock cars to compete against seasoned professionals.

After the race, Daniel Suarez was one of the first people to call out NASCAR. He stated that NASCAR’s system needs major adjustments, especially for drivers coming from different disciplines. “NASCAR needs a little bit of help to have a better system in place,” he said. The Trackhouse Racing driver also mentioned Helio Castroneves’s struggles from Daytona. “That guy is a rock star, and I believe he could not have prepared better for the Daytona 500 … but if you ask me, once he was in the Daytona 500, he still had a lot to learn,” Suarez added.

Notably, the four-time Indy 500 champion joined the Daytona 500 with Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91. He had simulator time and a NASCAR test session before the race. Yet, he still struggled and failed to qualify directly. Ultimately, he was allowed as the 41st car on the track, but that also turned out to be a disaster. After an early race crash, he failed to make a move and finished 39th. The definition of a world-class driver doesn’t necessarily translate into success in the NASCAR Cup Series. While this drama continues, Katherine Legge has revealed her future NASCAR plans.

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Will Katherine Legge return to Stock Car racing?

Despite the difficult debut, Katherine Legge is not backing down. She has faced criticism from fans and analysts, but she remains determined to prove herself in stock car racing. The 44-year-old race car driver has been phenomenal in open-wheel and other racing disciplines, but her rookie mistakes derailed her dream debut. DNF can be a crushing defeat for a driver making their debut, on top of the disappointment she became a central figure in the ongoing controversy. This treatment would be enough to persuade any other driver to call it quits from the potential of future races in the Cup Series, but Legge isn’t one of them.

In a recent interview, Legge acknowledged that Stock Car racing is different. “These cars aren’t particularly easy to drive,” she said. She also acknowledged that NASCAR challenged her by putting her at the top level without enough preparation. However, instead of backing down, Legge sees this as motivation to improve. She revealed that she has already received interest from other teams about potential Xfinity Series opportunities.

A step down to Xfinity could provide her with the experience needed to adapt to stock cars before attempting another Cup Series race. “All this does is make me dig my heels in and go, you know what, I’m going to prove everybody wrong,” she said. Notably, this won’t be her debut in the Xfinity series, as she already has some experience in second-tier events. However, Legge clearly aims for a comeback, but nothing is finalized yet.