“Katherine didn’t do anything wrong” in Talladega pileup

Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race featured an unfortunate accident with just 13 laps to go where some spotter miscommunication resulted in a multi-car crash that eliminated, Katherine Legge, Aric Almirola and Jeffrey Earnhardt from the event.

It was a solid day up until that point for Legge, who led her first lap ever in NASCAR during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. She was running around 15th place when Aric Almirola tried to come up in line front of her, but the move came too late. He crashed across her nose, collecting Legge, but also Jeffrey Earnhardt and Brandon Jones on their way back across the track. Jones’ car nearly went over as he got hooked from behind, but thankfully, the car remained right-side up.

Shouting over the radio, Almirola said to his spotter: “Come on! I went exactly when you said get up!”

The spotter replied: “You were plenty clear when I first said it. I promise you.”

Legge now has three consecutive DNFs in her NASCAR starts this year. The other two appearances came in the Cup race at Phoenix and last weekend’s Xfinity race at Rockingham, both resulting in crashes. She ended up finishing 34th in Saturday’s Xfinity race.

“The middle lane was just fizzling out there and I crashed myself, I guess,” said Almirola after being released from the infield care center. “Yeah, (I) had a quick hole I guess, and he (the spotter) said ‘clear,’ so I moved and, I don’t know, I wasn’t clear. Obviously wasn’t clear since I crashed. Katherine (Legge) didn’t do anything wrong; she was right where she needed to be and I turned across her nose.

“Hate that it took us out of the race and just happy to have Young Life on the car and everybody here that supports them. Wish we could’ve had a better run for them.”

Legge was upbeat, despite the premature end to her day, telling a scrum of reporters outside the infield care center: “Honestly, I was having so much fun and it was awesome The car was awesome. Jordan Anderson Racing did a phenomenal job giving me a great car. And you know, I just kind of was hanging out for the first 2/3rds of the race, and then we got a little bit more racey, and I could run up there pretty easy. Suck up really well, and so I thought we were going to have a great day, but we can’t catch a break. It just it is what it is, I’m really, I’m really grateful that I’m here. I had a blast.”

Her next appearance will be May 3rd in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.