NASCAR may have churned out legendary storylines and terrific racers over the past 76 years. However, the one storyline missing from the sport is a winning lady racer. Being primarily a male-dominated racing series since 1949, NASCAR has seen few women—Sara Christian was the first lady to finish 14th at a Charlotte Cup race. Several followed her, like Janet Guthrie and Danica Patrick. Hailie Deegan was the latest in this line, but she was dishonorably discharged from her AM Racing Xfinity seat this year.

However, veteran driver Kenny Wallace believes the dwindling impact of women in the sport may have impacted her. Motorsport, in general, is a heated game with cars frequently bumping into each other. But NASCAR may have allowed that a little too much for Deegan—so Wallace believes Deegan will find peace in her new garage under IndyCar.

Hailie Deegan fell prey to NASCAR’s shortcomings

Besides their short number, women have also not created a storm in the sport. To this day, Sara Christian remains the only female racer to have clinched a top-five finish in the Cup Series—she finished 5th at Pittsburgh’s Heidelberg Raceway. The failures trump these few achievements. Denny Hamlin spun out Danica Patrick in the Second Duel race in 2015, depriving her of a third Daytona 500 qualifier. Similarly, Hailie Deegan has borne the brunt of wrecks in Xfinity this year. She fell prey to an early race wreck in Dover and also got collected in a four-car wreck at Daytona.

As Hailie Deegan makes her way into Indy NXT for a new open-wheel racing career, she has a loud supporter. Xfinity veteran Kenny Wallace cheers for her 2025 plans, which he thinks are way better than NASCAR. Wallace lashed out at her aggressive Xfinity competitors who left her with numerous crashes and three DNFs this season. “The reason I think this is a good idea…is they can’t run into her like they did in NASCAR. There are so many jealous men that race in NASCAR…they could take the vehicle and use it like a weapon and just run into her, spin her out, and wreck her. It happened all the time.”

Kenny Wallace made a bold declaration to the testosterone-filled sport: “NASCAR is not ready for a lady racer.” Hailie Deegan will now get the opportunity to drive stress-free with fewer wrecks coming her way, as Wallace continued: “You cannot take your IndyCar and run into another competitor because it will break your own car. In NASCAR, you can run into somebody, body slam – you can get away with it. Now you might be able to get away with a bit of a body slam because of the side tubs on those IndyCars…I think this is a better fit for Hailie because now it’s car against car, driver against driver, and not like, Oh I don’t like a girl out running me, I’m gonna wreck her.”

And Deegan’s new team is also welcoming her into IndyCar.

New hopes, new dreams

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Hailie Deegan owns a glittering resume in the dirt and stock car racing world. For instance, she won three races in NASCAR’s K&N Series, becoming the first woman to do so. Then Deegan finished third in the 2020 ARCA Menards Series title race. Her downfall may have started after she jumped ship from Toyota to Ford, as Kevin Harvick argued. Deegan’s Craftsman Truck Series runs were average, as she posted just one top-five and six top-ten finishes across three seasons. Then this year, Deegan could barely crack the top 15, except for a 12th-place finish in Talladega. However, the 23-year-old racer is looking forward to doing better with a fresh slate in open-wheel racing.

Driving for HMD Racing for the 2025 Indy NXT schedule, Deegan is excited. “The team brings a wealth of knowledge for me to pull from, and I look forward to soaking up as much of that as possible before my race debut next March in St. Petersburg,” she said. Team President Mike Maurini is also pumped to have her. “Hailie has already been out to the shop and is taking the move to open-wheel racing seriously. She is looking for a place in the Indianapolis area to be emersed with the team and is already working with her engineer. We want to make sure she and all the other HMD Motorsports drivers are as ready as possible for every on-track session.”

Bidding adieu to her stock car racing stint, Hailie Deegan is headed for new waters. We wish her all the best for a successful IndyCar career!