DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: Veteran race car driver Katherine Legge aimed to make history in Saturday afternoon’s ARCA Menards Series Ride the Dente 200 at Daytona International Speedway, seeking to become the first woman to win on the series’ national stage.
Unfortunately for Legge, her ARCA Menards Series debut ended almost as soon as it began. The SPS Racing driver was caught in a Lap 4 crash that collected 15 cars, abruptly ending her bid for victory.
The race’s first caution erupted when Cody Dennison lost control off Turn 4 near the front of the pack and slammed into the outside wall. His car then shot back down the track into oncoming traffic, triggering a chaotic multi-car wreck as drivers scrambled to escape the carnage.
Legge attempted to use pit road as an escape route, but her efforts were thwarted when Eric Caudell made contact with her right rear, sending the No. 23 SIRP AI | El Bandido Yankee Tequila Chevrolet SS hard into the inside retaining wall.
The IndyCar veteran was later evaluated and released from the infield care center but was ultimately credited with a 39th-place finish.
“Yeah, I’m fine, and honestly, I need to see the replay,” she said upon exiting the infield care center. “I just got tagged in the right rear, tried to making it down pit road and got hit again, so not much you can do.
“I had a really great car, thanks to the SPS guys, because the car was fast, and we were just trying to survive and hang out until the last 20 laps, but that plan didn’t go according to what we were trying to do.”
After posting some of the fastest laps in last month’s preseason ARCA practice at Daytona International Speedway, Legge carried that strong pace into Friday afternoon’s lone practice session—setting high expectations for the season opener.
Despite logging just 7.5 miles in the 200-mile race, she still took away a positive experience.
“I was having so much about up until then,” added Legge. “You know, the team were awesome, I had a really fast car and yeah, I had a smile on my face, you know, it was like a renewed sense of vigor coming into racing up having done it so long;
“I really looking forward to him my stock car debut here and unfortunately, that happened, so I’m just gutted. I just really wanted a decent shot.”
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