On the conclusion of 2020, the Hailie Deegan hype practice could not have been extra full. Midway by the 2024 season, nonetheless, it appears Deegan’s NASCAR profession is heading within the flawed course.
After successful three ARCA West races over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Deegan was referred to as as much as the ARCA Menards Collection for a full-time season in 2020, ending third in factors.
In 2021, Deegan was tapped to drive the No. 1 truck for DGR-Crosley full-time within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Collection. Deegan wasn’t terrible in 2021, ending seventeenth in factors, however sadly, 2022 was a barely worse Truck Collection season for Deegan as she slipped to twenty first. A Thirteenth-place end in her Xfinity Collection debut at Las Vegas, although, gave followers hope that she was higher suited to the NASCAR Xfinity Collection, the place most drivers are capable of develop their race craft.
2023 noticed a brand new Truck Collection group for Deegan in ThorSport Racing, which received the 2021 championship with Ben Rhodes. Whereas Rhodes received one other championship in 2023, nonetheless, Deegan as soon as once more struggled, dipping to nineteenth in factors with solely two top-10 finishes.
2024 introduced forth a brand new age for Deegan, nonetheless, as Xfinity Collection group AM Racing signed Deegan for 2024. The group that helped Brett Moffitt garner 9 top-10s and end fifteenth in factors in 2023 appeared prefer it was Deegan’s finest alternative but to show herself within the prime three sequence of NASCAR.
Sadly, she hasn’t capitalized. Deegan at present sits twenty ninth in Xfinity Collection factors, the worst of all full-time drivers within the sequence. She sits behind drivers akin to Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Matt DiBenedetto, who all have at the very least 5 fewer begins on the season. Whereas a number of dangerous finishes might be attributed to mechanical points along with her automobile, she simply hasn’t fairly found out easy methods to drive her method by the pack but.
On their very own, Deegan’s struggles aren’t any worse than these of a majority of drivers all through NASCAR historical past. Loads of drivers have been promising prospects, solely to sputter after they attain the highest three sequence.
The issue that differentiates Deegan’s struggles from others, nonetheless, is the standard of the groups she has struggled with. DGR-Crosley received races with the likes of Todd Gilliland and Ryan Preece whereas Deegan was with them, and through the one season that Deegan drove for ThorSport, three of her teammates made the Truck Collection playoffs with Ben Rhodes taking dwelling the championship at season’s finish.
Whereas Deegan does not have a teammate in 2024 to match to, the aforementioned Brett Moffitt completed way more in the identical automobile than Deegan has to this point. Whereas there are nonetheless 18 races remaining within the Xfinity Collection season for Deegan to show issues round, the sunshine on the finish of the tunnel fades with each poor outcome.
Deegan is definitely a proficient racecar driver. Profitable at any stage of NASCAR — even the regional stage, as Deegan did — is extraordinarily spectacular, and should not be discounted. Nonetheless, if a driver constantly performs worse than the friends they share tools with, the issue would appear to fall on the driving force.
Deegan has time to level her profession in the correct course. In any case, she’s solely 21 years outdated. But when the outcomes do not begin coming in quickly, she might discover herself again the place she began, needing to show herself to begin one other climb up the ladder.
