Who is Katherine Legge? Odds, Predictions & Best Bets for NASCAR Debut at Phoenix
Katherine Legge is set to make history in her NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1) when she pilots the No. 78 car in the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway. And she's already one of the most popular bets of the weekend.
Legge, who will be the first woman to enter a Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in 2018, is the third-biggest liability at BetMGM - where she's still listed as a 1,000-to-1 long shot as of Friday. That implies a 0.10% chance she'll win her NASCAR debut.
Here's a full breakdown of Legge's racing background and her odds this weekend, along with our best predictions for how she'll fare in Sunday's historic debut at Phoenix.
🏎️ Who is Katherine Legge? Auto racing career & NASCAR background
While Legge might be a new name for NASCAR fans, she's put together one of the best resumes by any female driver in motorsports history even before Sunday's race.
The 44-year-old British racing star was the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America in 2005 and owns four career wins in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. She's raced four times in the Indianapolis 500 - one of nine women to compete in the storied event - and set the fastest-ever qualifying time by a woman two years ago.
Legge owns prior NASCAR experience, too, having made five starts in the Xfinity Series between 2018 and 2023. She also made her ARCA debut in February at Daytona, where she finished 39th after an early wreck ended her day.
With her start on Sunday, Legge will become the 17th woman to compete in the Cup Series. She'll take the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports, the racing team co-owned by NASCAR driver BJ McLeod and his wife Jessica McLeod.
📊 Katherine Legge NASCAR odds & betting lines at Phoenix Raceway
| 💰 Sportsbook | 🔢 Odds | 🔮 Implied probability |
|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | +50000 | 0.20% |
| FanDuel | +50000 | 0.20% |
| BetMGM | +100000 | 0.10% |
| Caesars | +250000 | 0.04% |
| bet365 | +250000 | 0.04% |
While it isn't surprising given her relative inexperience, Legge is dealing as the biggest long shot across all five of our best sportsbooks to win Sunday's race at Phoenix Raceway.
Legge's shortest odds of +50000 still imply a mere 0.20% probability, or a 1-in-500 chance, that she wins her NASCAR debut. Her best odds of +250000 give her just a 1-in-2,500 chance to win on Sunday with a $10 bet returning a $25,000 profit if she does.
Even with such long odds (and also because of them), Legge enters the weekend as the third-biggest liability at BetMGM behind only Kyle Busch and Cole Custer. That means if she does win her NASCAR debut, it could be costly for the best sports betting apps that all list her as tied for the longest odds to win the race.
Legge is also dealing as high as +4000 via bet365 to finish in the top 10, which represents an implied probability of 2.44% and would turn a winning $10 bet into a $400 profit. Her best finish in the Xfinity Series was 14th in her most recent race at Road America in 2023.
If you're feeling a little more daring but don't quite want to take Legge to win the race outright, the best odds for a top-five finish as of Friday afternoon also come from bet365, which is offering +27500. That's significantly better than the +6000 at DraftKings, and the +7500 through FanDuel.
🔥 Best bets & NASCAR predictions for Katherine Legge's debut at Phoenix
There's a reason that Legge is such a long shot to win her first race at Phoenix Raceway - a course notoriously difficult for newcomers.
As we highlighted in our Shriners Children's 500 predictions, only one driver has earned their first career win at this track since it was reconfigured in 2018, and all but one winner in the Next Gen era (since 2022) has started from the top 10. That seems unlikely for Legge, whose No. 78 Chevrolet has struggled in qualifying this year.
Regardless of her qualifying performance on Saturday, she'll be guaranteed a spot in the field on Sunday, which is why I'm dabbling in a different long-shot market for the debutant.
🏆 Best Katherine Legge prop bet: Stage 1 winner (+50000 via bet365)
Look, I don't think Legge has a shot to win Sunday's race. I'm not sure she does, either, based on her initial comments about wanting to avoid mistakes and prove she belongs.
That pessimism isn't even about Legge as much as the car she'll drive on Sunday, as she just won't have the ride to carry her to the front at the end of the race. But what about during the stage breaks? That's often when the leaders cycle through pit lane to give themselves the best shot to win, while those without a traditional shot of winning stay out for stage points or a chance to flip strategy with an unexpected caution.
Legge isn't fighting for stage points, but she could be motivated to further make history by winning a stage in her Cup Series debut. She doesn't need the fastest car to pull it off - she just needs opportune timing and a desire from her team to let her race for the stage win. At these 500/1 odds via bet365, I'll gladly take a shot on that happening.
The sportsbook is also offering the best odds on a top-10 finish for Legge at +4000. While that still feels like a long shot (as those odds suggest), there are worse ways to spend a few bucks ahead of Sunday's historic race with a $5 bet returning a $200 profit.
Bet $5 on Katherine Legge to win Stage 1 of her NASCAR Cup Series debut and receive $150 in bonus bets with our bet365 bonus code.
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🏆 Expert Shriners Children's 500 picks
- 2025 Shriners Children's 500 predictions
- NASCAR AI picks and predictions
- NASCAR long shots at Phoenix
- Who is Katherine Legge?
📺 How to watch Katherine Legge's NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix
📅 Race date: Sunday, March 9, 2025
🕒 Start time: 3:30 p.m. ET
📍 Track: Phoenix Raceway (Phoenix)
📺 TV: FS1 | Streaming: FOX Sports App
❓ Shriners Children’s 500 FAQs
What are Katherine Legge's odds to win her NASCAR Cup Series debut?
Katherine Legge is dealing anywhere from +50000 to +250000 to win her NASCAR Cup Series debut, which implies between a 0.04% and 0.20% chance of her winning the race.
Has Katherine Legge ever won a race?
Legge has never started a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, but she's won four races in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. She also competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times with a career-best finish of 12th, and she has started five Xfinity Series races.
How many women have raced in the NASCAR Cup Series?
Legge will become the 17th woman to start a NASCAR Cup Series race and the first since Danica Patrick in 2018. Patrick was the 16th and most recent woman to race in NASCAR's top series.
When was the last time a woman raced in the NASCAR Cup Series?
Danica Patrick was the last woman to start a NASCAR Cup Series race, making her final career start in the Daytona 500 in 2018.
Has a woman ever won a NASCAR race?
Hailie Deegan won a NASCAR race in one of the sport's lower series in 2018, but no woman has won a Cup Series race. Sara Christian was the first woman to make a Cup Series start in 1949 and finished fifth in her second race, which remains the best-ever finish by a female driver.
🏁 Best NASCAR betting sites for Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway
Looking to bet on the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway? Here are our top-rated NASCAR best sports betting sites as determined by our expert team at Sportsbook Review, along with our best sportsbook promos ahead of Sunday's race at 3:30 p.m. ET.
- Caesars Promo Code: SBRBONUSDYW | Read our Caesars Review
- BetMGM Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our BetMGM Review
- bet365 Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our bet365 Review
- FanDuel Promo Code | Read our FanDuel Review
- DraftKings Promo Code | Read our DraftKings Review
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