When Katherine Legge saw the first render for her pink race car, covered in e.l.f. branding, her reaction was swift. “Oh god, that’s so cliché. Do we have to do a pink car?” she recalls asking her team.
The veteran driver, whose expansive resume includes open-wheel racing, endurance and now NASCAR, had spent most of her career carefully sidestepping the ‘female driver’ label. In a sport dominated by men, Legge was intentional about building her reputation on grit and performance, not her gender.
“I really tried not to point out the fact that I was a girl and just be a race car driver,” she says.
But when the beauty brand e.l.f. Cosmetics came knocking in 2023, the opportunity to do something different – and disruptive – emerged. During a visit to New York City, the 44-year-old Brit found herself with a new, vast platform and began to see her unique position in motorsport not as a liability, but as a strength. Then came the pink car.
“It was the best thing that ever happened because it started this girl power movement,” Legge says one year on.
Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
At the Indy 500, e.l.f. went big with a full-scale drone show and a splashy fan activation that painted the paddock in the brand’s signature colours.
“For the first time, the women [in the paddock] felt like they were seen and validated and that they could be feminine and wear makeup and still be a badass,” she says.
But when her Indy 500 seat fell through the following year, she thought the partnership might too. Instead, e.l.f. doubled down.
“A lot of companies say they stand for empowering women… but e.l.f. actually 100% stood behind me,” she says. “I’ve never felt so empowered.”
Rather than retreat, the brand pivoted to support Legge’s 2025 NASCAR campaign. She’s already made history as the first woman to secure a top-20 finish in a Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in 2017 and hopes e.l.f.’s message of visibility and inclusion will resonate with a whole new fan base.

Katherine Legge, Chevrolet
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
“Hopefully it has the same effect that it did at Indy, and it creates this girl power movement in the NASCAR paddock,” she says, noting the fan base has been slowly “warming up” to her.
“It’s a work in progress. And it’s taken so much hard work from everyone on my team.” It goes without saying that jumping into a 3,400-pound stock car hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park.
“It’s a totally different sport… I see the green flag and it’s like, ‘where am I?’ I have to consciously think about everything because it doesn’t feel like it’s an extension of me yet.”
From new circuits to heavier machinery, and even a new dialect, the learning curve has been steep.
“I have to get out of speaking in IndyCar language and speak the language of the engineers: like, ‘it’s loose,’ ‘it’s tight.’ But some of them are so Southern that it takes me a minute to compute,” she laughs.
Katherine Legge, Chevrolet
Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images
“I’m sure they think the exact same thing when I’m on the radio with my British accent… [but] my spotter and my crew chief are amazing and very communicative. It’s been awesome.”
Legge’s results are proof that her knowledge gap is shrinking with every race weekend.
“I’ve got this renewed sense of motivation: I’m studying, I’m watching races, I’m looking at data. I’m totally committed,” she says. “I want to finish where I think I’m capable of finishing. If the car is capable of 10th, I want to finish 10th. If it’s capable of winning, I want to win.”
Though she’s always prioritised respect from the racing community over splashy headlines – “right now, all I want is respect for trying and going out there and putting it all on the line,” she says – Legge is laser focused on fighting her way to a competitive car that will allow her to challenge for wins. And she’s confident that her experience gives her a competitive edge.
“Experience counts for so much. These young kids [coming into NASCAR] are fast, but they haven’t made all the mistakes, and they’re not scared yet,” she says. “You need to have a healthy respect for what you’re doing. It’s easier to slow somebody down than it is to speed somebody up.”
Experience, she argues, doesn’t dull bravery; it directs it.
Legge’s partnership with e.l.f. underscores how seamlessly her two missions intertwine: win races and widen the motorsport tent. The pink car that once made her wince is now a rolling billboard for possibility.
She’s proof that femininity and ferocity are not mutually exclusive – and that you can show up exactly as you are and still “be a badass.”
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