“She was really thrown to the wolves.” Kevin Harvick delivered his unequivocal verdict after watching the English racer make her Cup Series debut earlier this year. At Phoenix Raceway in March, Katherine Legge became the first woman to run a Cup race since Danica Patrick in 2018. But on her debut, everything went wrong. She spun out multiple times at the Shriners Children’s 500 and even ruined Daniel Suarez’s race by inadvertently crashing into him. Legge’s fortunes did not perk up last weekend either at Rockingham in the Xfinity Series, but a veteran believes it’s not her fault.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returned to Rockingham Speedway after two decades. But while the spirit of nostalgia was riding high, Katherine Legge’s spirits drooped from the very start. From muddling up qualifying to going through a disastrous finish, her race was miserable. But an IndyCar veteran blames it on Joe Gibbs’s team and NASCAR.

Katherine Legge receives a voice of support

Max Papis has a sterling reputation on American racetracks. From clinching two 24 Hours of Daytona wins and an IMSA championship to running the most NASCAR races as a European, Papis has a solid resume. The Italian racer has also mentored two high-flying Cup Series stars! Papis helped three-time Cup champion Joey Logano carve out his skills and mentored Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron ever since he joined the NASCAR Truck Series. So Papis understands oval tracks, the staple for NASCAR, like the back of his hand. He watched the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 race last Saturday, witnessing Katherine Legge’s spinning fortunes.

The open wheel and sports car veteran at first failed to qualify due to the final six positions in the 38-car field being provisionals assigned according to owner points. Then Katherine Legge got behind JJ Yeley’s wheel, the No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports entry. However, she could barely complete 52 of the scheduled 256 laps at Rockingham Speedway. Joe Gibbs’s young star William Sawalich drove his No. 18 Toyota into Legge’s car, which then hit Kasey Kahne’s ride. In a recent video of ‘Espresso with Max’, Max Papis flatly delivered his verdict on this wreck: “First of all, she got wrecked. It is undoubted that the 18 misjudged the corner entry. She cannot disappear… drove into the quarter-panel, boom, into the wall.”

Papis continued, “Was she at the wrong spot at the wrong time? Yes.” Legge was notably already a lap down and was one of the slowest cars on the field. Yet, she was driving in the preferred racing groove, a risky move and asking for trouble. Papis added, “There’s no excuse. She chose to be there. Does she have the experience to be there? No.” However, despite mentioning her clear lack of experience, Papis claims that Legge is not the problem here.

Before 2025, Katherine Legge had just competed in five Xfinity Series races. Her career best finish to date was a 14th-place effort at Road America in 2018. She is an experienced road course driver who has so far competed at NASCAR’s most challenging ovals and struggled. Max Papis emphasized how NASCAR should be more responsible for mentoring new drivers. “Think about it, if you’re in the office. They offer you a position where you might not be absolutely prepared for it… Will you turn it down? I mean, that’s how she makes her living. It’s more NASCAR, the sanctioning body – they should have a more clear regulation on what do you need to be part of the sport… It’s tough, I don’t think you guys understand how tough it is.”

After the incident, Katherine Legge could not make much of the race and was eliminated. Meanwhile, William Sawalich went on to finish 26th, and Kasey Kahne drove upwards to clinch 14th. Yet Max Papis spoke in Legge’s favor, considering her lack of experience at ‘The Rock’. “It’s almost impossible for people on the outside to understand how foreign it feels to be sitting in a heavy car on a high banking with the car moving around all the time, and getting swarmed and surrounded by people on attack.” This is a struggle that even three-time Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen is experiencing during his Cup Series rookie year in 2025, struggling to tackle high-banked ovals while leading laps at road courses.

With a veteran voice by her side, Katherine Legge’s Rockingham run got a new perspective. However, what is more important is the English racer’s conviction, and it is unstoppable.

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Not giving up without a fight

Katherine Legge’s NASCAR debut drew sharp criticism. With veterans questioning NASCAR’s decision to fans bashing her racing skills, she faced a lot. At Phoenix Raceway, her Cup Series debut ended with a crash after completing just 210 out of 312 laps, and she finished 30th. Now, the drama at Rockingham Speedway was yet another stain on her resume.

However, the veteran racer is not willing to give up so soon. Legge stacked up her schedule for 2025 with five Cup races with Live Fast Motorsports and seven Xfinity races with Jordan Anderson Racing. The first thing on her to-do list is to overturn the Phoenix disaster, where one of her two wrecks caught Daniel Suarez in the heat.

The thunderous conviction was evident in her words when Katherine Legge proclaimed her determination to try again. Last week, she spoke in an interview with NBC Sports. “I licked my wounds for sure. But I haven’t been around in motorsports for 20 years professionally by giving up on anything. I know (Phoenix) wasn’t my best work…made a lot of mistakes during the race, tried to minimize them. You see these guys making mistakes even when they’ve been doing it for decades. So to be vilified on one mistake, I feel like, was really unfair. I am a damn good race car driver, and I will come back and prove that was just a blip on the radar.”

Evidently, Katherine Legge is not backing down despite her crash-filled resume so far. Let us wait and see if the English racer can dazzle NASCAR fans.