Marco Andretti fiercely defends "badass" Katherine Legge against online critics

Marco Andretti has shared a strong message against online critics for insulting and trolling Katherine Legge. She has been on the receiving end of backlash for her recent failures since switching to NASCAR.

Legge competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Rockingham this past weekend, where she started towards the rear of the field after replacing J.J. Yeley in the No. 53 Joey Gase Racing car. On lap 52, Legge was taken out by William Sawalich, who was lapping her.

After the race, the former IndyCar driver penned a note on social media encapsulating her experience over the weekend while making clear that the crash wasn't her fault. Despite the nature of the incident, many social media users criticized her for not being ready for a NASCAR drive.

Marco Andretti, who has raced in both IndyCar and NASCAR, came out in support of Legge.

"It’s wild to me how many grown men talk badly about bad ass girls like this. Does it make them feel more manly from the couch or something?" he wrote in an X post.

Katherine Legge made her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix in March. She suffered an early spin in the race, bringing out the caution. Despite steadily progressing after the setback, a crash with Josh Berry in the latter third of the 312-lap race saw her DNF. Daniel Suarez, who had nowhere to go, got collected by Legge's car and finished in 23rd.

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Katherine Legge on switching from IndyCar to NASCAR

Katherine Legge at the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children's 500 - Source: Getty

Last week, Katherine Legge announced a 13-race NASCAR calendar for 2025, which included six Cup Series races and seven Xfinity Series races. On her podcast Throttle Therapy with Katherine Legge, the 44-year-old British driver revealed how her pivot to NASCAR came from finding no entries for the 109th Indy 500 in May.

"This is probably not gonna go down well, but I am gonna say it anyway. I think the pivot we'll talk about now that we're doing to NASCAR this year and not being able to get a car for the (Indy) 500... because we were planning on going back (to the Indy 500), we wanted to go back, we wanted to do it. I think Indy have missed out tremendously on not having us there," she said. [24:40 onwards]

"It's not about me. It's about us, it's about that unity, and it's about saying there was anyone... now there aren't gonna be any (women drivers) on the track this year."

Legge also emphasized how IndyCar would face flak from its fans for not having her on the grid for its premier event this year. In 2024, she competed in the race with Dale Coyne Racing. However, the 200-lap event was cut short for her after her No. 51 Honda started spewing smoke.