Hailie Deegan’s Racing Talent Under Fans’ Scrutiny After Goodyear Betrayal Tarnishes Dale Earnhardt Tribute

Hailie Deegan’s run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway ended on a sour note. The AM Racing driver rolled out a special version of the #15 Ford car, paying homage to NASCAR’s great Dale Earnhardt Sr. During the start of the final stage of the race, Deegan’s Mustang car blew up the left rear tire, throwing the fourth caution of the event.

This was the first incident-related caution of the race, forcing the teams to rethink their tire strategy for the final stretch. Unfortunately, the damage to Deegan’s car was beyond repair, and she had to retire from the race with a DNF. Having lost the left rear tire, the entire rear quarter panel of the car also shattered into pieces, thus forcing her to quit the race.

Hailie Deegan had high hopes for a good result at Darlington this weekend with a special throwback scheme honoring Dale Earnhardt with the No. 15 Ford that had a car cover made from 14-ounce heavy-duty denim, as back then, Wrangler Jeans sponsored Earnhardt.

However, this isn’t the first time the #15 Blue and Yellow Wrangler made a comeback at Darlington. In 2022, Justin Allgaier, who drove for JR Motorsports, ran with the same paint scheme. His No. 7 Chevy was sponsored by Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.

“I mean, with that being the 15 and me being No. 15, me and my team owner were texting back and forth on it, some ideas. When he sent that one, I was like, I think we gotta go with that one.” Deegan spoke about the race car via the FS1 RaceHub. Interestingly, Dale Sr also drove inside the Ford car for a couple of seasons at Bud Moore Racing, and then the No. 15 car was sponsored by Wrangler Jeans.

However, Deegan, for some odd reason, seems to find herself on the bitter end of the stick with her unlucky run-ins with accidents and mishaps. Today’s DNF finish was the third of the season; Daytona and Martinsville were the two races where she failed to finish the race.

It was after a lengthy discussion that her team had finally approved of going ahead with Dale Earnhardt’s 1982 season throwback scheme for Darlington. But looks like even that didn’t work in Deegan’s favor. Fans were not considerate of her run with bad luck in what was her first-ever season running in the Xfinity Series. Many of them took to X and questioned her ability as a race car driver and her lack of talent after yet another disappointing race result.

Fans react to Hailie Deegan’s elimination at Darlington

Deegan’s No. 15 car was paying tribute to Dale Earnhardt with a special throwback scheme, and with this came the expectations to deliver the results. However, there was little she could do to avoid the misfortunes of the “too tough to tame” track.

Questioning her capabilities as a race car driver, another fan chimed in by stating, “Never had talent anyway.”

Deegan has always been criticized for running at the tail end of the pack. The only decent result she has had in her rookie season came at Talladega. Reacting to her failed attempt to finish a race, a user wrote, “Weekly caution from the lady in the back.”

Sympathizing with Deegan’s sponsors, a fan added, “Her Sponsors aren’t even worth the damage she creates week after week.” At the time of writing this piece, she is 27th with 122 points in the Xfinity Series standings.