March 10 (UPI) -- Katherine Legge's historic day at Phoenix Raceway included a premature ending, as the first woman to race in NASCAR's Cup Series since 2018 spun out on lap No. 216 in Avondale, Ariz.
Legge, who was driving the green No. 78 Chevrolet, completed 210 laps in Sunday's Shriners Children's 500. Christopher Bell won the race. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry and Chris Buescher rounded out the Top 5.
"Baptism of fire," Legge told reporters. "You know, I think there's a lot of positives to take from it. Obviously there were mistakes made, but I learned so much.
"Hopefully I get to come back and do it again."
Legge, 44, said her team made some changes to her car overnight, which she called "horrible." She struggle to control the car early on, spinning out on lap No. 4, but regrouped and returned to the field.
"I was hanging on that first stint," Legge said. "I was so loose. I was just hanging on to it.We kept making adjustments. We kept making the car way more stable for me. At the end there, I think we were relatively quick compared to the field, so it wasn't bad. I wish we hadn't made the changes. But we were trying to find some pace.
"We found it throughout the race, but it was a rough start."
The Guilford, England, native previously appeared in the IndyCar Series, Formula e and NASCAR's Xfinity Series, in addition to appearances in other racing series.
Danica Patrick, who made her Cup Series debut in 2012, was the last woman to appear in the series. She made her final appearance at the 2018 Daytona 500. Patrick earned one pole and seven Top 10 finishes in 191 Cup Series races. Sara Christian became the first woman driver in NASCAR history in 1949 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Cup Series will continue with the Pennzoil 400. That event will be held at 3:30 p.m. EDT Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
