INDYCAR: Katherine Legge can’t catch a break at Gateway
by William Soquet / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
SCREENCAP: NBC Sports
Katherine Legge finished last for the 3rd time in her NTT IndyCar Series career in Saturday’s Bommarito Auto Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway when her #51 e.l.f. cosmetics Honda crashed out of the race after completing 7 of the event’s 260 laps.
The finish came in Legge’s 16th career series start and was her first since last year’s Indianapolis 500, 24 races ago. Across NTT IndyCar Series history, it was the eighth for the #51, the 117th for Honda, and the 232nd due to crashes.
While the Indianapolis 500 was Legge’s only Xfinity start of 2023, she also got behind the wheel of a NASCAR Xfinity Series car, driving for SS-Green Light Racing at Road America. Fuel pump issues left her last there.
With Dale Coyne Racing featuring a veritable carousel of drivers across its entries this year, especially the #51, it was intriguing when Legge’s name started coming up as a driver that would take all of the oval races in one of the Coyne cars. However, when the initial announcement came, it was just for the 500. There, e.l.f. cosmetics was the sponsor, and according to reports at the track, the sponsor had one of the best activations across the field that weekend. While the race results again weren’t there (an early engine failure ended her race before Lap 25), there were still some positives to be had. She then detoured to the Pikes Peak hill climb, finishing fifth in the Time Attack 1 category. While journalists still seemed confident that an announcement to pilot the #51 for all of the remaining ovals was coming, the team instead opted to announce the Iowa and Gateway rides individually. Despite this, it remains consensus that Legge will be in the #51 for the home stretch of ovals to close the season.
For other teams, the mid-season driver mill kept churning, carried on by a long summer break. Agustin Canapino and Juncos Hollinger Racing parted ways effective immediately. Canapino’s IndyCar swan song wound up being a Toronto race where he finished in the penultimate position after wrecking early. He quickly inked a touring car deal for the rest of 2024 and all of 2025. The Juncos team, meanwhile, inked Conor Daly to a deal for the remainder of the season. Daly had previously tested for the team in Canapino’s place early in the summer break, and was the obvious replacement for an oval-heavy back end of the schedule.
Legge’s adversity-filled weekend started in first practice. Despite running 43 laps, about in line with the rest of the field, she was nearly a second off Pietro Fittipaldi for 26th. The car failed pre-qualifying inspection and didn’t take a time. To top it all off, the #51 team was assessed a nine-place grid penalty for using an extra engine before the weekend. The grid penalty was nullified, as Legge did not take a time and would likely have started at the back.
Despite that, there was time for things to turn around in a long Gateway race. The luck, however, was nowhere to be found during the event. Legge did not advance from 27th in the laps following the initial start, even as Fittipaldi moved past Ed Carpenter, who fell from his 21st starting spot to 26th in the opening stint. On Lap 8, Legge made an inside move to the bottom of Turn 1, while Carpenter ran a normal line from high to low. The right front of Legge’s car connected with the left rear of Carpenter’s, sending both toward the outside wall. The damage on Carpenter’s car was mainly confined to the rear wing, and he was able to continue. However, Legge’s day was done on the spot. To add insult to injury, she was given an avoidable contact penalty for the crash. The penalty was questionable at best, and was the final blow in a brutal weekend for Legge. Assuming all goes according to plan, she should have a chance to rebound in two weeks at Milwaukee.
Pato O’Ward was 26th, victim of an engine problem, and Kyffin Simpson was 25th after a crash. The Bottom Five was rounded out by two drivers who led laps earlier in the race, Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal.
LASTCAR STATS
*Legge is the sixth driver to finish last in the #51, following Alex Barron, James Davison, Takuma Sato, Sting Ray Robb, and Luca Ghiotto.
*Legge is the first driver to start and finish last at Gateway since Anthony Lazarro did not start the race in 2002.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
27) #51-Katherine Legge / 7 laps / crash
26) #5-Pato O’Ward / 42 laps / engine
25) #4-Kyffin Simpson / 84 laps / crash
24) #28-Marcus Ericsson / 151 laps / electrical
23) #15-Graham Rahal / 161 laps / engine
2024 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Honda (7)
2nd) Chevrolet (6)
2024 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing (3)
2nd) Chip Ganassi Racing (2)
3rd) A.J. Foyt Racing, Andretti Global, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Team Penske (1)
2024 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
