Katherine Legge never set out to be a role model, but now she says she has a point to prove in NASCAR

When British racing driver Katherine Legge was given her long-awaited chance to compete in a NASCAR Cup series race for the first time, she would have been hoping to fly under the radar.

When British racing driver Katherine Legge was given her long-awaited chance to compete in a NASCAR Cup series race for the first time, she would have been hoping to fly under the radar. Instead, as the first woman in seven years to compete in one of the sport’s elite level events and it coinciding with International Women’s Day, Legge became the story at Phoenix Raceway. Under an intense spotlight, Legge’s debut was a baptism of fire. “An absolute roller coaster of emotions” is how she described it to CNN Sports, while one of the sport’s former champions Kevin Harvick said she’d been “thrown to the wolves.” The 44-year-old Legge’s motorsport experience is expansive. “I’ve driven literally everything else on the planet,” she explained, “IndyCar, Open Wheel, electric cars, sports cars, you name it – I’ve driven it.” By her own admission, her stock car experience was limited, but she’d been invited by Live Fast Motorsports, a team which gives new talent a pathway into the sport. “They weren’t expected to be competitive or fast,” she said. “Basically, all I had to do was go out there and show I was competent, finishing the race was what everybody would have said was a great result.”