How Hailie Deegan’s Inspirational NASCAR Career Almost Never Even Started

Hailie Deegan was proclaimed by many as NASCAR’s next best thing when Ford Performance added her to its development driver roster back in 2019. Just 18 years old then, she went on to finish the 2020 ARCA Menards Series in 3rd place, a feat that lent her a hand in breaking through the ranks to enter the NASCAR Truck Series in 2021.

Two years later, Hailie now pilots a Ford F-150 for Thorsport Racing in her third consecutive season in the Truck Series and is also a full-time driver for Tony Stewart’s SRX series. Coming off a much-acclaimed 2nd place finish at the SRX race at Eldora Speedway on Thursday, Hailie Deegan sat down for a chat with former racer Kenny Wallace for an episode of “The Kenny Conversation” to discuss her career and future.

The story of how Hailie Deegan got into NASCAR

Hailie Deegan today is one of the most sensational figures in American stock car racing, both on and off the racetrack. As a much-loved NASCAR personality, the happenings of how her entry into the promotion went down when she was a mere 15 years old are not a story that many are aware of. Turning back the dial on her time machine, Hailie talked to Kenny Wallace about how she’d always wanted to make it to NASCAR growing up. She said that she had considered it to be the biggest form of racing and wanted to make it to the competition since it was viewed as the “crown jewel of racing”.

Delving deeper into the story, she said, “I was racing off-road trucks and I kind of had peaked there a little bit. As in, there wasn’t much more to accomplish there because it is a smaller a smaller series of racing where there isn’t many more levels to go up to once you kind of hit the PRO classes and do good there. So after that I was like… I was 15 years old and I think my parents kind of saw it too that like, ‘What’s next? I can’t just be okay with where I’m at 15 and not work for anything else.”

The commendable thought process that went through the head of 15-year-old Hailie Deegan to not settle for the normal is what has translated into all the glories that she has achieved in her career. But all the accomplishments that came in the aftermath of her NASCAR entry might just as well have disappeared into thin air, thanks to the wonky internet.

Watch More: Hailie Deegan Admits Privileged Training as Tony Stewart’s Series Taught Her a Lesson at Berlin

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Talking about the unease she felt at the time about not going further forward to higher levels of racing, she revealed that it was her mom who signed her up for the NASCAR diversity program. Sharing a funny incident that went on behind the scenes of her application to the program, Hailie mentioned how the internet had almost played spoilsport in her move to NASCAR.

She said, “It’s funny because, when she’s signing me up online, it said how the forms failed or whatever. It didn’t go through yada- yada, and she’s like ‘Man! It’s not working!’ and then, it just so happened that the forms actually went through. And, so yeah, because of that I came out to North Carolina and tested a, it was for the legend, the junior like, uh, Diversity Program that they have for legend cars.”

Hailie’s career is an inspiration for many. When she crossed the finish line at the pole position in the K&N series at Meridian Speedway in Idaho, she became the first woman to win in any series across NASCAR. While her achievements etch her name in the history books forever, the story of how all this came to be sure tickles the funny bone.

Read More: Veteran Spotter Reveals Hailie Deegan Almost Destroyed Corey LaJoie’s Prediction