NASCAR legend Mark Martin makes feelings crystal clear on Katherine Legge’s Cup Series debut

NASCAR legend Mark Martin recently shared his thoughts on Katherine Legge making her debut in the Cup Series. Legge's debut marks the first time a female driver will race in the NCS since Danica Patrick last competed in the Daytona 500, seven years ago. Mark Martin reposted one of Legge's interviews after her first time driving the Next Gen car and expressed his happiness to see her take part in the Cup Series.

While this will be Katherine Legge's first experience in the Cup Series, she is not a complete newbie in stock car racing. She has competed in five Xfinity Series races in the past, including one in 2023, and also raced at the Daytona International Speedway last month in the ARCA Series.

She only got into a conversation with NASCAR about driving in the Cup Series shortly after the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta and was allowed to make her debut on either a road course or a short track, where the speeds are comparatively lower than drafting style tracks. However, with less than a week's time for the race at COTA, Katherine Legge and Live Fast Motorsports couldn't prepare for COTA and decided to instead enter at Phoenix.

After the first practice session on Saturday, Legge spoke with Jamie Little and shared her thoughts on what it feels like to make her debut in NCS.

"Lots and lots of feelings, that's for sure. I am still shaking, and then the nerves. I don't think anybody realizes what a tall order this is to get in a car that you've never driven, a track that you've never driven, with 36 other guys that are really freaking good, right? But we did it (practice session), that one's out of the way. I am gonna go qualify super conservatively and then look at a bunch of data, watch a bunch of videos, and hopefully I'll get a long race tomorrow so that I can learn more," Katherine Legge told Little.

Mark Martin reshared the post with a caption that read:

"It’s fun to see @katherinelegge racing at Phoenix."

Legge qualified in last place (37th) for the Shriners Children's 500 on Sunday and will take the first green flag at 3:30 pm ET.

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Katherine Legge shares her thoughts on the lack of female drivers in motorsports

Katherine Legge is only the eighth female driver to compete in the premier class of American stock car racing in the modern era (per a report by FOX Sports). During media day on Friday, the 44-year-old British driver spoke about the lack of female drivers in motorsports and shared that she would like to play her part in encouraging more young girls to take up racing as a career.

"It’s disappointing that there aren’t more women [in] like IndyCar and NASCAR, the Cup [Series], sports cars. Really, there’s been kind of like a gap, you know. There was Sarah Fisher and Danica and me and Simona [de Silvestro], and like a bunch of good drivers in that era. And then there’s been really like this gap and this lull," Legge remarked (via Motorsport).

"So when I stop racing or maybe alongside it but definitely focused on it when I stop racing, I’d love to bring up the next generation. Because I think that there’s only a handful of us that have those shared life experiences, and I think that my experience might be valuable in helping them navigate it," she continued.

For her NCS debut, Katherine Legge has not set any unrealistic goals and her priority remains to complete all the 312 scheduled laps on Sunday.