INDIANAPOLIS – Veteran racing driver Katherine Legge is preparing to take on one of the most brutal and logistically daunting challenges in all of motorsports this Memorial Day weekend: “The Double.”
On Sunday, May 24, 2026, Legge will attempt to race 1,100 total miles in a single day, driving a Chevrolet in both the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s punishing Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While the grueling feat has been attempted by only five drivers in racing history, Legge will become the first woman ever to try her hand at the exhausting same-day cross-country double-header.
To complete the Double, Legge’s itinerary must be executed down to the exact minute.
Her day will begin at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where she will drive the No. 11 Chevrolet fielded by HMD Motorsports in partnership with AJ Foyt Racing and backed by technical support from Team Penske. Legge’s entry was secured as the crucial 33rd car on the grid, filling out Indy’s traditional 11 rows of three.
The moment the checkered flag falls on the Indy 500, Legge will bypass any traditional trackside celebrations, sprint to a waiting helicopter, and board a private plane bound for North Carolina. While in the air, she will receive intravenous (IV) hydration and medical therapy to counteract the physical toll of pulling high G-forces in an open-wheel car.
Upon landing at Charlotte Motor Speedway, she will instantly slide behind the wheel of the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevy Camaro ZL1 to tackle 600 additional miles of aggressive stock-car racing. Because NASCAR capped the Coca-Cola 600 entry list at 39 cars this week, Legge is officially locked into the field. She will be the only woman competing on the track in both marquee events.
By initiating the attempt, Legge joins an exceedingly exclusive fraternity of drivers who have dared to run both races on the same afternoon:
- John Andretti
- Robby Gordon
- Kurt Busch
- Tony Stewart (The only driver to complete all 1,100 miles in 2001)
- Kyle Larson
Larson, a fellow Chevrolet driver, was the most recent to attempt the feat, making heavily publicized runs. However, Mother Nature proved to be the ultimate adversary. Storms delayed the start of Larson’s Indy 500, forcing him to miss the green flag in Charlotte altogether, and he ultimately crashed out of the eventual makeup race.
Legge’s attempt at the Double is backed by over two decades of elite, versatile racing experience. The British-born driver is no stranger to shattering glass ceilings in the sport.
In 2005, she became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America with an IndyCar victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix. She has qualified for all four Indy 500 events she has entered, becoming the ninth woman to ever make the grid in 2012.
During her 2023 qualifying run at Indianapolis, Legge made history by setting the record for the fastest single lap by a woman (231.627 mph) and the fastest four-lap qualification average (231.070 mph). Beyond open-wheel racing, she holds numerous podium finishes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the grueling Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
“We worked incredibly hard to be back at this year’s Indianapolis 500, and I don’t take a single moment of it for granted,” Legge said of her historic double-header opportunity, which features primary sponsorship from e.l.f. Cosmetics. “Together, we’re proving that when you invest in a woman’s dream, there’s no limit to what she can achieve.”
Racing fans can watch Legge make history live on Sunday, May 24, starting with the green flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before tracking her journey south to Charlotte.
