CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Hailie Deegan has left NASCAR behind for open-wheel racing this season and it could be for good.
She's been one of NASCAR's most marketable drivers — she has nearly 5 million followers across ger social media platforms — but hasn't had the performance or funding to land a top ride and advance her career.
Deegan doesn't want to race in the Truck Series anymore and because any opportunities to advance required cash she doesn't have, she's taken another route: Deegan will drive this year for HMD Motorsports in Indy NXT, which is IndyCar's top development series.
No, she does not have any Indy experience. But she also doesn't have the means to fund a proper move to the Xfinity Series. Deegan attempted to move up last year in a multi-year deal with AM Racing but she departed the team in July after 17 races and a best finish of 12th.
She started attending IndyCar races with her new free time last summer and put together a deal to drive for one of Indy NXT's top teams. For now, NASCAR is in her rearview mirror.
“I'm not actively trying to look for a ride or anything, but if a couple million dollars falls in my lap, awesome," Deegan said Tuesday. "Same thing for everybody. Not many opportunities come unless you got deep pockets. I think a lot of people fail to realize that on the NASCAR side of things, it is such a crazy number. So if $6 million to run for a quality Xfinity team just came out of nowhere, fell off a tree, for sure I'd do it.
“But the reality of things is in this economy right now, sponsorship and marketing budgets have been cut. It makes it a lot tougher. It’s already tough to find money to go racing.”
Her biggest issue is selling herself with a guaranteed return on investment. In three full seasons of Truck Series racing, Deegan logged just five top-10 finishes in 69 races. In her limited time in Xfinity, she just couldn't compete with the top-funded teams.
“It's hard to to say to a sponsor, ‘You spend a couple 100 grand for this race, you’re going to get your value.’ You can’t promise that to people,” she said. “So it’s very tough from that side. Obviously, I would have loved to run Xfinity full-time, but in a good car. The reality of that is, it takes a lot of sponsorship to do that.”
So now she will give open-wheel cars a shot and begin a 14-race Indy NXT schedule in March on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. She's only tested so far but has found the transition enjoyable.
Deegan also recognizes she's diving into a deep unknown. She had never even been to an IndyCar race last year until she attended the event at Iowa Speedway last July, and she also went to Nashville Speedway in September.
Now she's paired with a development team that has won dozens of races, several NXT championships and advanced David Malukas, Linus Lundqvist, Benjamin Pedersen, Christian Rasmussen, Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson to IndyCar.
“I feel like I've been learning so much and having a blast doing it,” Deegan said. “It's just trying something new. It's been a big change, but a fun one. I know I'm not going to go out there and win my first race. I'm realistic. I haven't really set any finishing goals because I want to see how I do at the first race. I have no clue how everyone races. I have no clue how many wrecks there are going to be.
“I just don't know what to expect because it's all so new. I want to be competitive and I really want to see a big progression when I hit the ovals. As long as we constantly progress on the road courses and then we get to the ovals, that's where I think my strong suit is going to be.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
