Hailie Deegan looks forward to taking on Dover with her No. 15 AM Racing Ford team. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. — If Hailie Deegan feels a bit adventurous ahead of Saturday’s BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway, she has a good reason.
Simply put, the 22-year-old Temecula, California, native is making her first ever start at the 1-mile concrete oval. Given the young racer’s experiences in stock cars, she will be tapping on the experiences of her hardy AM Racing crew.
Prior to Saturday’s race, the kickoff to the second quarter of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season, Deegan will not have to look too far for support and guidance.
“Dover is a brand new track for me this weekend, but I’m glad to have the support of everyone on my AM Racing team,” Deegan said in a team press release. “I am optimistic after a career-best weekend at Talladega that we can come to Dover this weekend and have another solid performance.”
For starters, Deegan’s crew chief, Joe Williams, has respectable numbers with leading teams at Dover from atop the pit box. In five previous XFINITY starts, Williams has led teams to a best finish of 10th along with four top 15 finishes.
Before Friday’s on-track session, Deegan expressed her expectations on approaching this weekend’s frantic venue.
“It is important for us to roll off the hauler and have some speed with our No. 15 AirBox Ford Mustang and then continue to make gains through qualifying and in the race that keeps us on the lead lap,” Deegan said. “Hopefully, we can continue to make positive progress that will help our upward trend heading into May.”
Deegan kicked off the weekend with the 36th fastest time and 29th quickest in a 10-lap consecutive run in practice. Although Deegan has her work cut out for her by starting 29th for Saturday’s race, she has faith in her crew who support and guide her each weekend.
“It’s been great working with the team,” she said during the NASCAR at COTA race weekend. “They’re all really good guys over here. They’ve treated me great. We have great relationships, and I think just being in the XFINITY Series is a little surreal.”
For a young woman whose family is steeped in a myriad of racing disciplines, Deegan is blazing her trail as a formidable stock car racer. While the season opener at Daytona was a tough outing for the mild mannered driver, she had a mature, refreshing outlook about her opportunity.
“Even after Daytona. I ended up in a wreck at Daytona, one of the early wrecks, about 20 some odd laps in and just watching it, I love watching the XFINITY Series,” she said. “All the years I was in Trucks, the XFINITY Series was always so cool. And just to be a part of it, it’s unreal.”
Along the way, Deegan is learning in a trial by fire experience. Notably, she has made her way from the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series via the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West divisions in the past six years.
The unmistakable colors of Hailie Deegan’s No. 15 AirBox Ford Mustang Dark Horse search for the fast lane at Dover. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Graduating to the XFINITY series this year after a promising 15th place finish in her trial start in 2022 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Deegan points out how the Truck series contrasts with her current focus.
“I think the Truck series, because of the spec motors and stuff, it causes the racing to be super, super tight,” she observed. “And I think because of that, it could cause a little bit more roughness in it. But in the XFINITY Series, I mean, I don’t think it’s been that bad. I think it’s been pretty good.
“I feel like it’s quite a few older drivers in the series. So there’s a lot I feel like respect goes a long way in it. And I don’t know, I feel like it’s a little bit cleaner for sure.”
Nowadays, Deegan races against the likes of AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman and Ryan Sieg, respected veterans of NASCAR’s second highest series. Unlike her peers, Deegan is not only pursuing her dreams for herself, but inspiring others along the way as the series’ only full-time female competitor.
“It’s super cool, especially having young girls come up to me saying that. Or the dads come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I got my daughter into racing because of you,'” Deegan said. “Seeing that it was possible, it goes a long way. It’s really motivating for me because I feel like trying to be a good example to young girls trying to show them like, ‘Hey, something like this is possible.'”
Such possibilities became reality for a young fan who Deegan mentored during her off road racing days with fruitful results.
“Back in the day when I raced off road trucks. the car that I raised, there was a little girl that we used to go to the same go kart track quite a bit, and I try to help her out here and there, and then she ended up buying my off-road truck off me when I sold it,” she recalled. “And then she started racing. So that was something that I thought was pretty cool.”
The amiable but focused Hailie Deegan is here for keeps in the competitive world of stock car racing at a place like Dover. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
Like Caitlin Clark inspiring young women to pursue a basketball career, Deegan is doing the same for girls in motorsports. At the same time, she races with her heart on her sleeves, the passion quite evident when she wanted to win last Saturday at Talladega badly before being shuffled to a 12th place result.
As Deegan pursues this year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, she knows who her ideal teammate would be without reservation and question, as far as a dream team is concerned.
“I would probably I’d probably pick Chase (Cabre), my fiancé, because he’s a damn good racer,” she said in an appreciative tone. “Back when we used to race against each other, back in the K&N days.”
Such high praises are earned from Deegan, who astutely points out how Cabre has versatility behind the wheel.
“He’s really good on dirt,” Deegan explained. “I feel like he always beat me in the K&N [now ARCA Menards Series East and West]. So back in the day, there’s not many times where I beat him. I think I out-qualified him, like, once. And so, I still bring that up, but he definitely would be on that team of mine.”
Editor’s Notes
Special thanks to Hailie Deegan and Ta’Marcus Morgan for their time and guidance during the Focused Health 250 race weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Del Valle, Texas! View the video interview with Hailie on YouTube now.
