"A hell of a way to put it": Katherine Legge earns Denny Hamlin's respect after impressive Brickyard 400 result

On her fifth Cup start of the season, Katherine Legge finished inside the top 20. At the Brickyard 400, Legge finished the race in 17th place, which turned out to be her second top 20 finish in her five appearances this year. Apart from Brickyard, Legge finished in 19th place at the Chicago street race.

Legge's progress in NASCAR was something on which Denny Hamlin commented during Actions Detrimental. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who finished in third place on Sunday, said that in his opinion, Legge is getting 'a lot out of that car'.

"Now in practice I would have said, 'Whoa! Holy cow danger danger'. #78 car, but they don't have any testing probably no data or anything like that. So when they hit the racetrack for the very first time, who knows where their travels are at? Like, are they hitting the track? Are they not? They're one of those teams that puts their thumb in the air and it's like, I think we need to probably be here this weekend. And so, that's a hell of a way to put it... So it can't be stated how impressive she's been," Hamlin described. [33:20]

The #11 driver mentioned that in Legge's case, it's not like she's getting 'five lucky dogs' and getting lucky by staying on the lead lap and finishing in a good position. Instead, Hamlin claimed she stays on the lead lap and battles out with 'better drivers' for a top 20 position.

"That's with a car that is clearly not up to snuff compared to what she's racing up against," Hamlin added.

Katherine Legge attracts praise from Kevin Harvick after Brickyard result

Katherine Legge ending Brickyard 400 in 17th saw her not only earn praise from Denny Hamlin, but another NASCAR veteran also lauded her progress. During an episode of the Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick commented on Legge's impressive result.

The former SHR driver said that Legge "did great" and said he has been "super impressed" with her progress and performance.

“I think after the way it started, everybody had a lot of questions of is this just a gimmick. But Katherine Legge continues to get better. I think when you see a finish like this on an oval, we’re going in the right direction. Kudos to her and her team for what they did. … I think the criticism was well deserved and fair. But I also think the kudos are well deserved and fair, too," Harvick described.

It's worth mentioning that along with her best ever NASCAR finish, Katherine Legge also achieved a major milestone just by starting Sunday's race. This is because Legge became only the 21st driver in history to have taken part in the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.

With that said, it'll be interesting to see how Legge fares in her upcoming starts in the Cup Series this season.