Katherine Legge nets top-20 NASCAR Cup finish in Chicago
CHICAGO — Katherine Legge survived the chaos in Sunday’s Grant Park 165 in Chicago to score her first top-20 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Legge made the race after bumping 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim from the field in a remarkable turn of events in qualifying Saturday. She started from the rear of the field – in 35th of 40 drivers – for unapproved adjustments.
Early on, she dropped to 39th but gained nine spots when a big wreck struck. Then, in stage two, Legge emerged near the top 20 and ran 23rd under caution on lap 33.
Although Legge dropped back due to a spin on lap 40, she picked up positions as the mid-pack competition ratcheted up after the final stage began on lap 45. For what became the final restart, with nine laps to go, she found herself in 22nd. While various chaos knocked multiple drivers back, Legge survived and finished 19th.
Legge scored the best finish for a woman in the NASCAR Cup Series since Danica Patrick finished 17th in back-to-back races in 2017 at Martinsville and Texas.
Sara Christian holds the best overall Cup finish for a woman – fifth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the inaugural 1949 season. Patrick holds the second-best – sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2014.
If Legge can score a top 10 in a future start, she’d join Christian, Patrick and Janet Guthrie as the only women in series history to score a top 10. As it stands, only six other women have made more Cup starts than her.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com