Although it did not go quite as well as she had hoped, Katherine Legge made history on Sunday. She became the first woman in racing to attempt the double at the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.
The 45-year-old started her day by missing the driver introduction ceremony.
Legge explained the awkward misunderstanding during the Indianapolis 500 victory celebration. It was just as much an accident as it was on purpose.
Katherine Legge attempted the Coca-Cola 600 double.
Only five other drivers had ever tried to race in both IndyCar and NASCAR on the same day. John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart were first. Kyle Larson was the most recent.
Katherine Legge became the sixth driver in history to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 on the same day. She did not finish either race but it was not her fault.
Legge had to swerve out of the way of Ryan Hunter-Rey on Lap 17 of the Indy 500 and crashed. Had she not made the split-second decision to avoid contact, it could have (and likely would have) been one of the most catastrophic t-bone wrecks we have ever seen.
Catch a second look at the accident involving Ryan Hunter-Reay and Katherine Legge. pic.twitter.com/7ZmWfH9GY4
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 24, 2026
And then Legge lost a wheel during the Coke 600. While that is mostly on the pit crew, it did appear as though she missed her mark by about a foot. The right front tire guy was working at angle.
Say what you will about her disappointing result but Legge finished more laps than Larson in each of his two attempts at the double. That in itself is an accomplishment.
Why did she miss driver intros at the Indy 500?
Katherine Legge started her Sunday with a weird mishap at the Indy 500. She was announced between Mick Schumacher and Kyle Kirkwood during the driver introductions but she did not take the stage.
Where was she? Legge never got her queue from the event organizers. She was standing nearby to the stage during the introductions but nobody told her when to join the other drivers. They told her to wait.
Katherine Legge eventually realized that she got skipped over and decided to walk onto the stage on her own terms. It was not an intentional snub!
Katherine Legge explains (kind of) why she wasn’t at Driver Introductions yesterday.
— Bryan Friedrich (@500Indy1911) May 26, 2026
🤷♀️ || #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/Ap7NXYEQuk
The awkward sequence of events was really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but it was a huge miss from a sponsorship standpoint. Her double attempt was one of the biggest storylines of the weekend. For Legge to miss intros was a missed opportunity to promote her brands. Oops!