Hailie Deegan will race full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2024. Currently driving the #13 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, the announcement sees her depart from the Craftsman Truck Series after three years. While the move has aligned with Hailie’s gradual progress that she has shown throughout her career, it has also raised many eyebrows.

Deegan hasn’t shown anything special in the two prior seasons of the Truck Series. Rather, she ended up being the competition’s most popular driver in her debut season and has a high chance of landing it again this year. However, she can be a valuable addition, apart from bringing marketing opportunities and media hype to the table. Ford Performance Motorsports’ Global Director, Mark Rushbrook, certainly believes so.

The Ford Performance director has some constructive criticism for Hailie Deegan

Hailie Deegan will finish her third season with ThorSport Racing next week. She has finished 17th and 21st in the first two seasons of those three seasons and will most likely end in 19th this season. The final standings have shown slight improvement in these three seasons for her. But that is not all to take away from her stay in NASCAR’s third tier.

The 22-year-old Temecula native joined the Ford Performance Driver Development Program in 2019. The program enabled her to participate in NASCAR and IMSA races through Ford’s facilities and vehicles. She debuted in a Ford Mustang GT4 in the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona 2020 to kick off her journey with Ford. Ford has been a loyal provider since then and will continue to do so next season.

Reflecting on their collaboration so far, Rushbrook exclaimed in an interview with Bob Pockrass, “It’s been an interesting road, honestly. She had a good season in ARCA when she started her relationship with us,”

“Moved her up to Truck and we’ve seen certainly some glimmers, some opportunity, but not the sustained performance, candidly, that we’d like to see but given that opportunity with different teams and most recently with ThorSport this year. The race she did in an Xfinity car last year in Las Vegas did really well.”

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She made her only Xfinity start last year at Las Vegas and performed well to finish 13th in the lead lap. That result has ignited a bit of doubt in some minds as to whether Xfinity cars are better suited for her than trucks. As Rushbrook continues the interview, he discusses what will change for the youngster.

Plethora of opportunities for Deegan in the Xfinity Series

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Xfinity Series is the gateway to NASCAR’s premier competition, the Cup Series. Considering that Deegan finds the Xfinity Fords more easily adaptable and suited to her racing style, she could also have a genuine shot at moving up to Cup. In her three seasons of driving Trucks, she has finished 53 of her 67 races, with 37 coming on the lead lap. She has also improved in risk management and hasn’t been outright reckless.

“I think this is an opportunity with her advancing to Xfinity and a new team to have a different car, to have different people around her and drivers styles suit different types of cars and different racing,” stated Rushbrook.

“The cars and trucks are all different from each other. So, it’s an opportunity to try Xfinity and see if that suits her style. I think what AM Racing is doing will put in a good program around her and a good opportunity for her to demonstrate what she’s capable of.”

However, her abilities were put under interrogation by the Truck Series’ winningest driver, Kyle Busch, earlier in the day. Rowdy didn’t hold back as he claimed, “She might find a home in Xfinity because if you’re not good in Trucks, you won’t be good if you ever get to Cup.”

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Well, speculating on the future from now itself could bite one back. Hailie Deegan has progressed through the ranks since a young age and could surely draw some eyes toward her next season as she moves up to the #15 Mustang of AM Racing.