Katherine Legge, who has competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, made her Cup Series debut at Phoenix Raceway back in March, and after she caused multiple incidents, NASCAR's decision to let her compete was heavily scrutinized.
The fact that she has been at the center of several Xfinity Series wrecks has amplified that criticism, as she now has four DNFs, two DNQs, and only one finish (of 32nd place), to go along with a DNF in her ARCA Menards Series debut.
But Legge made her Cup Series return at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and stayed out of trouble en route to securing a 32nd place finish, and this coming Sunday afternoon's Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course has long been a race in which she has looked forward to competing.
However, it will not be that simple.
There are 41 cars on the entry list for this 75-lap race around the 12-turn, 2.2-mile (3.541-kilometer) temporary street course in Chicago, Illinois, and Cup Series races are limited to 40 cars.
Legge is set to drive the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports, which is one of the five non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list.
The others are the No. 13 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which are set to be driven by Will Brown, Austin Hill, Josh Bilicki, and Corey Heim, respectively.
Three of those teams are full-time teams that field multiple chartered entries on a regular basis: Kaulig Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and 23XI Racing. For that reason, it's hard to imagine that Brown, Hill, or Heim will fail to qualify.
But Garage 66 and Live Fast Motorsports are always either the slowest (or the second slowest) team whenever they compete, which could set up a dramatic battle for the 40th and final starting spot between Bilicki and Legge on Saturday's qualifying session.
Bilicki may very well have a leg up, no pun intended, based on his Cup Series experience, which dates back to the 2017 season; Legge has made just two career starts. However, road and street course racing is her specialty, given her sports car racing background, which has seen her win multiple IMSA races.
Still, having five cars battling for four spots adds a whole new layer to the upcoming race weekend. The Cup Series has not had a more cars than spots in the field for a non-Daytona 500 race since the November 2018 race at Texas Motor Speedway, when Timmy Hill and MBM Motorsports were left on the outside looking in.
If there is anything positive Legge can take from that weekend, it's the fact that MBM Motorsports is the team now known as Garage 66. Will history repeat itself, or will Legge be left with her third DNF of the NASCAR season?
Qualifying for the Grant Park 165 is set to be shown live on TruTV from the Chicago Street Course starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, July 5, while the race itself is set to be shown live on TNT Sports beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 6.