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via Imago

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After a strong career start, Hailie Deegan has now lost her spot in the Xfinity series. She was recently replaced in AM Racing by Joey Logano as the team decided to go for a more experienced driver. After her departure, the question of where she will be racing in 2025 has started to pop up. While an update from Deegan on her racing career has been highly anticipated, Kevin Harvick came forward to discuss her choices. However, they do not look promising.

The former NASCAR driver spoke in detail as to what Hailie Deegan can do in the future. While explaining that, he went ahead to make a bold claim about her career choices that led her to be in this position now. As of now, she has not confirmed her plans for the future, and looking at her performance in her first full-time season, her prospects in NASCAR don’t look that great. So when Kevin Harvick spoke about a “bad move” of hers, her fan base stood divided.

What was Hailie Deegan’s mistake, according to Kevin Harvick?

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On his podcast, Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick discussed Hailie Deegan’s journey in Xfinity and tried to pinpoint where it turned south. Harvick explained, “The big mistake here was getting out of the Toyota development system.” He added, “I think Ford has the worst development program as far as their drivers go.”

Further clarifying his point, Harvick said, “I think Toyota has the best, and I think Chevy’s somewhere in the middle. Getting out of that Toyota development program with all the resources, and they’re willing to give time.”

Suggesting that Deegan needed more time in the Truck series, Harvick said, ” I think that she needed more time in the Truck Series, getting that guidance and mentorship that she needed in order to develop into what she needed to be a NASCAR race-car driver.” Hailie drove in the Truck series for 3 full-time seasons; however, Harvick believes that it was not enough for her to be able to excel in Xfinity. Harvick added, “I think it’s going to be tough to get another chance. That’s going to be the hard part.

 

When fans came across Kevin Harvick‘s comment, they couldn’t help but share their thoughts. While many fans were for Harvick’s statement, others were in disagreement.

Although many agree that leaving Toyota was a mistake, the comments were full of discussions as to which program is better. Deegan has reached a difficult crossroads in her life, and fans are making it clear that they would like to continue seeing her.

What do fans think about Kevin Harvick’s comment on Deegan’s “bad move”?

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Fans agree with Harvick that Ford doesn’t do a good job developing new drivers and think Deegan made a mistake leaving Toyota. As one comment reads, “He also flat-out said that Ford has the worst driver development program and that Deegan’s biggest mistake was leaving Toyota.”

Fans believe Toyota spends a lot more money than Ford on helping new drivers improve, and they wish they knew the exact difference. This was reflected in the response to the above comment, saying, “I bet Toyota outspends Ford by a substantial margin in driver development. I wish I knew the numbers.”

As the above comment stated, they wish they knew the numbers. This fan guessed that Toyota spends five or six times more than Ford and pointed out that Ford doesn’t have much support for drivers at lower levels. In the comment, they replied, “It’s got to be 5 or 6 times more. Ford has nothing at the regional level.”

Unlike most, one fan thinks Deegan might have been stuck at Toyota and that Ford gave her a good chance, but she didn’t make the most of it. Saying, “She was kind of bottlenecked at Toyota, though; Ford had the opportunity for her; she just didn’t deliver on it.”

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Another fan explains that Harvick thinks Toyota is better at mentoring and developing drivers because they have more resources and more drivers in their program, even if they don’t fully agree with him. Their comment stated, “That was Harvick’s reasoning, though. I’m not saying I 100% agree with it, but apparently Toyota has better mentorship and can give drivers more time to develop because they have so many drivers in their program.”

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What do you think of Hailie Deegan’s move from Toyota to Ford? Was it the reason she has found herself in a difficult position in her career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.