Talk of gravity-defying odds. That was what Hailie Deegan’s chances of finding a ride for 2024 in NASCAR were a couple of months back. However, in a complete turnaround of luck, Deegan not only found a ride but also gained promotion to the Xfinity Series from Trucks. Since the announcement came that she will be driving for AM Racing next year, the racing fandom has been scratching its head over it.

The reason for the confusion is the poor performance that the 22-year-old displayed over the last three years in the Truck Series. With the question of how her career has not yet come to a standstill, her father, Brian Deegan, has come out with admissions of his own.

Brian Deegan finds his reasons for his daughter’s terrible outing in the Truck Series

Hailie Deegan began her career in NASCAR behind the truck of David Gilliland Racing. Portrayed to have the potential of becoming a female icon like Danica Patrick, she spent two years with the team without creating much impact. At the onset of 2023, she moved to race in the Ford F-150 of ThorSport Racing. The move was expected to change her fortunes and help her get some victory lane visits, but once again, she failed. Over the last three years in the Craftsman Truck Series, Deegan has just 5 top-10 finishes and no wins.

Her lackluster three years are precisely what makes her gaining a step up to Xfinity odd for many. Despite the negativity surrounding the move, her father, Brian has reasoned why she couldn’t fulfill her potential in trucks. He said in an interview with SpeedSport, “The Truck Series was pretty gnarly as far as how aggressive everyone races. It’s tough to learn and her coming in at the time of the year with the pandemic and just got so many less laps. Trying to learn how to drive and race in NASCAR with literally no practice. It was a tough hand to be dealt. So I’m kind of glad to get into cars back.”

Thankfully for Hailie, she still has plenty of time to prove her caliber. With the new ride that she has got, she has also bagged a golden chance that eludes the majority of NASCAR aspirants. Hopefully, she will be able to justify the expectations that came out of her journey thus far, in the Xfinity Series.

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Hailie Deegan gets a shot at fulfilling NASCAR’s expectations of her

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In his same interview, Brian Deegan spoke about the path that Hailie had taken to reach where she is now. Talking about how her journey as a racer began for fun, he detailed that he had noticed her interest in it and immediately got into action. He said, “I think once you kind of realized that she really loved it and really wanted to race, then we thought, “Okay, where’s the future for a female in racing?” We really just thought NASCAR was kind of the Pinnacle in America for that. So we said how do we get there? And we kind of carved that path to find a way to get to stock cars and I think it was a goal for sure.”

Despite her father’s enthusiasm about her getting into Xfinity, Hailie Deegan has particularly not done a lot to say that she will excel in the series. But what she has is an opportunity. There have been several examples of driving styles and vehicles not suiting a driver. As Brian put it, there is the possibility that Hailie could be a totally different driver in 2024, than what she has been thus far. The coming years will be incredibly crucial for her path towards stardom.

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