“She got set up for failure”: Daniel Suarez delivers his hot take on Katherine Legge’s disastrous NASCAR result

Daniel Suarez gave his input on Katherine Legge's NASCAR debut. Her debut on the Phoenix Raceway was marred by two spins, one collecting Suarez, which ended her race early.

Legge, with the experience of over 25 races as a driver in IndyCar and Formula E, had a disastrous debut driving the #78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports. She became the first female driver to compete in the series since Danica Patrick in 2018. Finishing in 30th place, Legge brought attention towards the NASCAR driver approval process.

In an interview with Jeff Gluck for The Athletic, Daniel Suarez spoke out on NASCAR dropping Legge in hot water. He felt that with very little NASCAR experience, she was “set up for failure” by the officials but also hoped for more opportunities for the driver as he said:

“I believe she got set up for failure, it doesn’t matter if you’re a great driver or a bad driver — if you’re thrown into one of the most difficult series in the world to be competitive, that’s not fair. I was more disappointed in NASCAR than her. I hope she gets another opportunity.”

Daniel Suarez, driving the #99 for Trackhouse Racing, is a Mexican stock car racing driver who made history by becoming the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series with his Xfinity Series win in 2016.

After disappointing results in the early part of the season, the Trackhouse Racing driver came back with a strong finish at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing second. His performance at the Pennzoil 400 elevated him to 19th position in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings.

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Daniel Suarez held no grudges against Katherine Legge as he blasted the association

Daniel Suarez, following a collision with Katherine Legge at Phoenix Raceway, didn't fault Legge directly. Instead, he criticized NASCAR for allowing drivers with limited stock car experience to compete in the Cup Series.

Suarez argued that it was unsafe to put inexperienced drivers on the track, especially at high-speed venues like Las Vegas, suggesting that NASCAR's approval process needed to be more stringent to prevent such incidents.

NASCAR journalist Steven Taranto reported on Suarez's latest YouTube vlog, where the latter said:

"There's nothing wrong with her [Katherine Legge]. What is wrong with NASCAR. They cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup Series. Plain and simple. You go to Las Vegas, to a fast track, it's freaking dangerous. You cannot do that. And then here, honestly, this is not a so slow pace. Like, I hit her and I was running 100 MPH slowing down already."

The incident ruined Suarez's chances of a top-10 finish and resulted in a DNF for Legge.