The only driver in the history of motorsport to win the IndyCar and NASCAR championships is Tony Stewart, and for good reason. Stewart was versatile at racing on multiple track types, including dirt, and used these skills to the best of his abilities in both series. However, trying to replicate something similar in the modern era is near impossible. Even just driving part-time in the Cup Series with IndyCar experience can lead to disastrous results, and we saw that last week with Katherine Legge.
It was a historic occasion for the racing world when Katherine Legge made her Cup Series debut at Phoenix last week. However, the veteran racer, coming to stock car racing after proving herself in IndyCar and IMSA, struggled in the Cup Series car, and her debut quickly became one to forget. She spun on out with no contact on lap 4 and, later in the race, had an accident that damaged Daniel Suarez along with her, ending both of their races. This raised a lot of questions regarding NASCAR’s approval process. 3x Cup Series Champion Joey Logano recently shared his thoughts on the scenario and sided with two of his long-time rivals.
Joey Logano cites racing background as a key point of difference
This wasn’t an isolated incident, either. Questions have been raised before on NASCAR’s approval process. Earlier in the season, Helio Castroneves, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, also faced challenges on his debut at the Daytona 500. Despite his successful career in other series, he was unable to perform in a Cup Series car, accruing a DNF after a wreck during a Lap 71 restart.
On the other hand, Mike Wallace, a veteran of the Cup Series, was denied entry to race by NASCAR earlier this year due to his long absence from the track. These inconsistencies in NASCAR’s driver approval system have led to another controversy in the world of stock car racing, with heated debates between both drivers and fans.
Joey Logano, speaking to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass ahead of the Las Vegas race, was asked about the difference of moving from different motorsports outside NASCAR to a Cup Series Car on road courses as compared to traditional ovals. Pockrass here was referring to Shane van Gisbergen transitioning seamlessly from Supercars, where he is a three-time champ, to winning his debut Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course in 2023.
“There’s definitely more similarities to sports cars than there’s ever been on road courses… Switching over from an IndyCar to a Cup car on a road course is a lot more challenging than going from a supercar, or a sports car of some sort, over to a Cup car,” said Logano. While supercars, like the ones the Kiwi maestro drove in Australia, are similar to road course builds, the IndyCar-to-NASCAR switch in the Next-Gen era is a nightmare. But what makes it that hard?
Plain and simple, a lack of practice. Logano was not the only one to emphasize this, but he took a unique example of one of NASCAR’s premier drivers gearing up for an IndyCar race. “The other thing I was thinking about, too, is Kyle Larson running the Indy 500. He has a whole month of May up there, and he had to get approved for one, but then he also had a lot of laps to get comfortable with the race car, and he’s a ridiculously talented kid… Like I said, 20 minutes of practice is really tough to say, ‘That’s good,’ and go jump in and go racing… We’ve seen two cautions last week that unfortunately ruined Suarez’s day, right? And not his fault, you know? If I was him, I’d be very upset—very upset.”
2021 Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson attempted the double last year, which is running the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. While rain ruined his attempt, his preparation was no short of immaculate, as he stayed in Indianapolis for a month to get approved. Contrast that to Legge, who was notified about racing in Phoenix 10 days before the race and had just 45 test laps.
Her lack of practice was evident, and Daniel Suarez was the unfortunate victim of it. But he didn’t resent her after the race and instead shifted the blame on to NASCAR, just like everyone else. “What is wrong is NASCAR. They cannot allow somebody with no experience to run in the Cup Series — plain and simple,” Suarez said. While Joey Logano focused more on the lack of practice, Busch harped on a different tangent, calling out the authority NASCAR had and what he feels it should be.
Here are three-time Cup champion Joey Logano’s thoughts on the Cup driver approval process, especially when it comes to drivers coming from other forms of racing (such as Supercars and INDYCAR): @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/gLd6iCEK6P
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 16, 2025
Joey Logano was respectful and diplomatic in his comments on the driver’s approval. Kyle Busch, as usual, didn’t mince his words. “I feel like I’ve questioned the approval process for a long, long time… there’s a lot of work that could be done to make it better…. I don’t think suits and ties should be making that,” said Busch.
The Nevada native feels that NASCAR has the wrong people in spots of power, deciding who can and cannot race. Busch also reflected on his days as a Truck Series owner with Kyle Busch Motorsports and how his drivers were treated unfairly by NASCAR at times. “Being an owner in the Truck Series and seeing some young drivers get opportunities at different tracks versus my drivers that I was trying to get opportunities on some of the same tracks getting denied.”
Earlier, Denny Hamlin also commented on this issue, echoing the sentiments shared by Busch and Logano, but added a sentiment that even questioned the integrity of the Cup Series itself: “I mean, there probably needs to be a stricter process than what it is…It should be the most elite series. You shouldn’t be able to just come in whenever you want.” There is no doubt that NASCAR is the most prestigious stock car racing series in the world. Its open-wheel counterparts might go at faster speeds, but stock cars are a nightmare to handle and require skills that can only come with practice.
Evidently, NASCAR’s approval for Katherine Legge looked like a good sign before the race, as she became the first woman to race in the Cup Series since Danica Patrick in 2017. However, from the early blemishes to a final wreck, Legge saw the worst of it. Despite the backlash she has faced, Legge is determined not to back down.
Katherine Legge will run it back
Katherine Legge is not a bad driver by any means, and not a single driver on the grid blamed her for the misfortune that occurred. Legge is an IMSA and IndyCar icon. She holds the record for the fastest qualifying by a woman at the Indy500 and has also competed in the Xfinity and Truck Series in the past. The British driver described her Cup Series debut, saying, “It’s been a lot, honestly. It’s been some positives to reflect on, but there’s been some negatives, too.”
She elaborated on how she got in touch with the drivers whose races she ruined, namely Daniel Suarez, and received a positive response most of the time. However, she did recall one incident that made her grind her gears. “I had somebody from another team call me today and say, part of me thought that you were going to say, OK, I don’t want to do this anymore or this isn’t for me,” Legge said. “I was like, hell no. You don’t know me very well, but all this does is make me dig my heels in and go, you know what, I’m going to prove everybody wrong, because I know that I’m a good race car driver and this was just a blip in the matrix.”
Evidently, the IndyCar driver is determined to leave her mark in the Cup Series in a good way. However, for that, she would ideally need to pick a better track and practice for much longer, something that only NASCAR can help her with. However, if NASCAR can somehow develop a stricter approval process that suits the needs of the sport, it would help increase the competition and decrease the safety risks. Drivers like Legge would have to work harder to get approved, making her race harder but smarter when she eventually does.
Joey Logano emphasized this point too, saying, “There’s got to be a line in there somewhere, a little bit of structure behind it would be nice, like saying maybe you’ve got to run the Xfinity race or a couple of other different types of races. I’m sure they don’t want to put too much structure behind it because every situation is a little bit different. At the same time I think there’s got to be some marks you have to hit before you get approved into a Cup race.” While Legge had run Xfinity in the past, the last race was back in 2023, and for her career, she has just run 5 races in NASCAR’s second tier.
As drivers and fans alike continue their crusade against NASCAR’s inconsistency in the driver approval process, everyone is left wondering about what lies in the future of the sport. With Legge determined to make amends, will NASCAR tweak their police to ensure her return is more fruitful? Let us know in the comments!
The post Joey Logano, in a Moment of Rarity, Joins Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to Gang Up on NASCAR With Damning Verdict appeared first on EssentiallySports.
