Katherine Legge is a hot topic in the racing world at the moment with the news of her running the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 Double on Sunday, May 24, becoming the sixth driver to do so and the first woman to ever attempt it.
Frontstretch was on site at Dover Motor Speedway to get NASCAR Cup Series drivers’ input on Legge taking on the challenge and how that may or may not have swayed their mind on trying a Double attempt.
Bubba Wallace
While Wallace wished Legge the best with making a run at the Double, he adamantly defended his previous stance on never attempting the feat.
“No, nope,” Wallace said. “I think it’s badass, I just read Katherine Legge‘s doing it — super pumped for her. She’s been awesome in learning her way in this sport. To see her announce the Double is freaking cool, so definitely cheering for her and hopefully that goes well. The reason I say no is because there’s so much time and effort that goes into that and, right now, I don’t have enough time to think about that, to think about how much I have to do to prep for that.
“I don’t want to be the one to just make a phone call like, ‘Hey, I want to do this next year.’ I feel like that’s years of prep. I don’t have that time right now. I’ll just go run my one race and be good.”
Chase Elliott
Elliott has never had the interest in making a Double attempt, especially after Kyle Larson‘s weather-hampered tries due to weather.
However, Elliott gave support to Legge in her endeavor.
“I’ve never had a ton of interest,” he said. “I certainly have a lot of respect and wish her a lot of luck. I know it takes a lot of effort. Just watching what Kyle went through the last couple years and everything, I think it’s a huge commitment, one where you have to have a lot of good fortune go your way with the weather. So, hopefully all that works out for her.”
Ryan Blaney
Blaney gave an eyebrow-raising, and for others a mustache-raising, answer to giving the Double a go. The Team Penske driver wouldn’t count out a run sometime in the future
“I would never say no to it,” he said. “It’s exciting. I’ll be watching her to see what she can do. It wouldn’t be out of the question. I would say it’s something I would currently tug at Roger [Penske’s] shirt but you never know. You never know, maybe one day. I’ve always thought it’d be pretty cool. I’m good buds with [Scott McLaughlin] so both of us doing the Double would be a pretty neat thing — for the same team, too — that’d be pretty cool. No plans as of now, but you never know.”
Chris Buescher
Prosper, Texas’ Buescher won’t give any thought to a run, sticking with NASCAR exclusively among other stock and fender series.
But the respect for the NTT IndyCar Series still remains with Buescher for the speeds that they have to endure for the 200 laps and the 500 miles around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I’ve never been an open-wheel guy, I guess, and don’t have the experience in that world,” he said. “I started in motorcycles instead of go-karts. It’d be a lot of fun to run that fast but no, I’m sticking to full funders. That’s not on my radar. I give people a ton of credit, all the drivers in IndyCar, to go run that race at those speeds and to be that close, it’s a blast to watch. But no, I’m not going to try it.
“Not for me. I thought about trying to take a ride in the two-seater around there just to see what it is, but I’m a really bad passenger. I think it’s a hard no.”
Tyler Reddick
Time is the biggest enemy to Reddick. With a newborn back home, Dover taking over the All-Star Race and obligations to his 23XI Racing No. 45 team, all play a factor into Reddick simply not having enough time to even consider a double run.
“I just … the routine and schedule we’ve got right now to keep [the No. 45 team] afloat and stay competitive every week, I don’t know,” he said. “I need more hours in the day. I’d always love to do it, I just don’t know how realistic it is. Time is time. You only get 24 hours in a day. That’s the tough part, I don’t know how I’d manage doing both right now.”
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing
There’s no one who’s tried it and won either race. It’s a good way to put your body through hell for what is almost always two races worth of mediocre results. However, driver egos being what they are, I don’t expect the attempts to stop.