Daniel Suárez wants to see more of Katherine Legge on the grid after the British driver had a rough end to her NASCAR Cup Series debut in Phoenix. She crashed into Suárez in Turn 2, but the Trackhouse Racing driver remains supportive of her.
Daniel Suárez Calls for Katherine Legge To Get Another Shot After Tough Phoenix Break
Suárez and Legge had a “good” chat earlier this week following their incident at Phoenix Raceway during Legge’s Cup Series debut.
Suárez was running sixth last weekend when he collided with Legge, who had spun out of Turn 2 with 98 laps left. After the incident, the Trackhouse Racing driver shared in his vlog that he was more frustrated with NASCAR’s approval process for allowing Legge to race than with her directly.
During their follow-up conversation, which Legge initiated, Suárez reiterated that frustration.
"[@katherinelegge] got set up for failure… I was more disappointed to #NASCAR than her."@Daniel_SuarezG criticizes NASCAR's process of allowing drivers of allowing new drivers in the sport after crash with Legge last week at Phoenix.
📹: @m_massie22 pic.twitter.com/dMAtd1MoJK
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 15, 2025
“I give her a lot of credit for reaching out a couple of times, and it’s good,” Suárez said at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “My position didn’t change. I was mad at the situation and I believe that she got set for failure. It doesn’t matter if you’re a great driver or a bad driver. Regardless of that, if you are thrown in one of the most difficult series in the world to be competitive, it’s just not fair. That was the way I saw it.
“I was more disappointed [in] NASCAR than her, and I mentioned that to her.”
Live Fast Motorsports gave Legge the opportunity to make her Cup Series debut. The arrangement came together in just 10 days. Legge felt as prepared as possible for the race — her second-ever oval start in NASCAR.
Teams had 45 minutes of practice before qualifying, and Legge improved her speed heading into qualifying. She has been cleared to race on short ovals, road courses, and street circuits in NASCAR. Phoenix’s one-mile layout runs at a faster pace than most short tracks, a detail Suárez also pointed out.
The discussion focused less on Legge’s credentials and more on NASCAR’s process. Suárez, along with other drivers, felt the process put Legge in a difficult spot that didn’t fairly represent her talent and racing experience.
“I hope that she gets another opportunity because I’m part of the diversity, and I think that having diversity in the sport is something that is extremely important and very, very valuable,” Suárez said.
“Having Hispanics, having African Americans, having women — it’s super important. There’s nothing wrong with her; it’s just the process. I think the process has to be so much better.
“We’re talking about an elite series. I believe I’m one of the best racing drivers in a stock car in the world, and if I wanted to run Formula 1 or Formula 2, I can’t. I’m not qualified to do that, and I shouldn’t because I don’t know the car and I don’t know the tracks.
“I have to go through a process. I’m good enough that I can do it, but it’s going to take a process. So I believe the process to allow somebody to run in the Cup Series should be a little bit harder — for respect to the driver who is trying, to respect the fans, and to respect the drivers and teams that are running full time because we work very hard [only] to get into silly accidents like the one from last week.”