Denny Hamlin lays out truth about Katherine Legge | Sports News

Katherine Legge’s newest spectacular run within the NASCAR Cup Series driving the Live Fast Motorsports No. 78 has caught the attention of this 12 months’s winningest driver, Denny Hamlin.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and co-owner of 23XI Racing alongside Michael Jordan, who lately went to victory lane at Indianapolis courtesy of Bubba Wallace, Hamlin praised Legge following an spectacular run at the Brickyard 400 to complete seventeenth after qualifying a spot forward of him in thirty eighth.

Hamlin, a Cup Series title favourite who most lately received the Autotrader EchoPark 400 at Dover, stated on his Actions Detrimental podcast that Legge’s drive was “very noteworthy,” explaining, “I just feel although, wow, she is getting a lot out of that car.

“Now in practice I would have said, ‘Woah, holy cow, danger, danger, 78 car,’” the 44-year-old admitted. “But they don’t have any testing, probably no data, anything like that. 

“So when they hit the race track for the first time, who knows where their travels are at. Are they hitting the race track, are they not…they’re one of those teams that puts their thumb in the air and says, ‘I think we probably need to be here this weekend.’

“And so it can’t be stated how impressive she’s been. It’s not like she’s getting five lucky dogs and getting back on the lead lap and squeaking out finishes. She’s staying on the lead lap at these race tracks and battling some of our better drivers for teams’ finishing position, with a car that is clearly not up to snuff compared to what she’s racing up against…She optimized her day.”

Indianapolis was solely Legge’s fifth ever Cup Series race, with the 45-year-old Briton’s earlier best having come on the streets of Chicago, the place, in coming nineteenth, she turned the first feminine driver to crack the highest 10 within the Series since Danica Patrick in 2017.

Her spectacular performances in Chicago and Indianapolis represented a main step ahead for Legge following a robust begin to her season, failing to qualify for Rockingham and Nashville within the Xfinity Series, which bookended three finishes exterior of the highest 30 within the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet. 

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“I have to use every lap to the best of my advantage, and so that’s what I’m trying to do,” Legge informed SiriusXM NASCAR Radio following Indianapolis. “I’m just trying to gain as much experience as I can when I’m out there, but still prove that I belong.

“People have said I should be doing ARCA or Trucks or Xfinity, and while I’m trying to get all the laps that I can, I’m trying to make those laps count as much as possible, and so I definitely feel a lot more comfortable.”

Legge went on to clarify that she is just specializing in what she will control and making essentially the most out of her alternative.

“From my perspective, all I can do is go out there, be as well-prepared as possible, listen to the advice of all the people who know NASCAR a lot better than me, call upon my experience doing other things and the diverse number of other things that I’ve driven, make the most of it, and improve as much as I can, and try and impress as many people as I can, get as many good opportunities as I can,” she stated.

“And I’m just laser-focused on trying to do that, really, and to become the best stock car driver that I can be, because it doesn’t escape me how lucky I am to have these opportunities and how many people would kill to be in my position right now. So I am enjoying every minute of it, but I’m also trying to do it responsibly and take full advantage of it, too.”