It was a very long day for Katherine Legge, but she saw it through to the very end as she became just the sixth driver in history to start the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
She joins a list that includes Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, John Andretti, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Larson.
After a career-best qualifying effort in the Indy 500, her fifth appearance in the historic race ended after just 17 laps. When Ryan Hunter-Reay spun at the exit of Turn 2, she crashed trying to avoid a direct impact with him on the backstretch. Legge slammed the inside wall, and her race was over, finishing 33rd (last) in the 110th running of the Indy 500.
After just 42.5 miles of racing at the Brickyard, she got on a plane and headed to Charlotte Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, she stayed out of trouble for most of the race.
However, not long after the start of Stage 3, she limped to the apron with a problem. Moments later, the right-front wheel disconnected, triggering a caution.
The team did not give up and Legge soldiered on, finishing the race 12 laps behind race winner Daniel Suarez, finishing 31st. She completed 361 laps and 541.5 miles for a total of 585 miles between the two races, while the goal was 1,100. Rain also ended the Coke 600 a full 27 laps short of the scheduled distance.
A long night in Charlotte
After the race, Legge did not sugar coat how difficult of a day it was.
"I think the highlight for me will be when I can finally lay down tonight, because I'm so tired," she laughed while speaking with NASCAR on Prime.
"But, the opportunity to do it, the opportunity to attempt to do it, is the highlight. We are gonna regroup and think about it and reflect to see what we could have done differently. That was kind of a calamity of errors. At the end of the day, I don't think I made too many mistakes so there's positives to take from it too."
She only wishes that the car she had at the end of the Coke 600 was the one she started the race with, as the team made big gains on the setup in the last-half of the race."
