The narrative surrounding Katherine Legge has completely changed over the past five months.
After her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix Raceway was a disaster, she faced all kinds of online criticism, and NASCAR was also heavily scrutinized for allowing her to make her oval debut when they did, especially after prohibiting veteran Mike Wallace from even attempting to qualify for the Daytona 500.
But Legge has since totally justified Live Fast Motorsports' decision to continue letting her run the No. 78 Chevrolet on a part-time basis, even amid continued struggled in the Xfinity Series.
At the Chicago Street Course, where many pegged her as the driver most likely to be bumped out of the field, she not only qualified but went on to finish in 19th place, the best ever road or street course finish in the five-year history of the B.J. McLeod-owned team.
With McLeod himself having finished in 16th at Atlanta Motor Speedway the week prior, it marked the first time the team had ever recorded back-to-back top 20 finishes.
Then at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there was more skepticism toward NASCAR for letting her make her first oval start since Phoenix in the Brickyard 400, even if she did enter the 2.5-mile oval with four Indy 500 starts under her belt.
She qualified 38th, well off the pace, but raced her way to 17th place, which was another team record for a non-superspeedway/drafting race. Additionally, it gave the team three top 20 finishes in four races, matching their top single-season total from 2022, which was when they still competed full-time.
Katherine Legge returning at Watkins Glen
After the team sat out of the race at Iowa Speedway, they are set to return at Watkins Glen International, again with Legge behind the wheel of the No. 78 car.
Legge has run respectably on regular road courses this year as well, placing 32nd at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and 31st at Sonoma Raceway after keeping out of trouble at both venues.
This weekend, there are four part-time non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list, so all are locked into the race. The other three are the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, and the No. 87 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, which are set to be driven by J.J. Yeley, Josh Bilicki, and Connor Zilisch, respectively.
Beyond this weekend, she has just one more start lined up for this season, that being in the October playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. She had been planning on competing in the race at Richmond Raceway next Saturday night, but that changed when the Brickyard 400 became a late addition to her schedule.
McLeod himself is set to run the No. 78 Chevrolet twice more this year, first in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, and then in the October playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Tune in to USA Network this Sunday, August 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET for live coverage of the Go Bowling at The Glen from Watkins Glen International. Be sure to begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the fifth and final non-oval race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar!