What’s Happening?

One of the best and most unique aspects of motorsports is that it is fairly common to see female drivers competing. These drivers become major role models for girls everywhere who hope to be involved in motorsports. These are all of the active female drivers in major closed-circuit motorsports.

• For this list, we will expand beyond NASCAR. We will include drivers in any of the NASCAR National Touring Series, the CARS Tour, Modifieds, ARCA, IndyCar, Indy NXT, Formula One, Formula Two, and sports cars.
• These female drivers must be currently active. We will consider active as any female driver who competes either full-time or on a semi-regular in any of these series.
• Fans are always interested in seeing how female drivers do. Many female fans look up to these drivers as proof that they indeed can race in the highest levels of motorsports.

Hailie Deegan: NASCAR Xfinity Series

Hailie Deegan joined the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season full-time with AM Racing, but the two parted ways after only 17 races together. Deegan is now searching for her next opportunity, and she vowed to fans that she would be back on-track at some point. Most recently, IndyCar YouTuber David Land spotted Deegan in the IndyCar garage.

Toni Breidinger: ARCA Menards Series

Toni Breidinger has worked her way up the Toyota pipeline into a full-time ride for Bill Venturini, one of the top team owners in the ARCA Menards Series. In a part-time effort in the series in 2023, she recorded a career-high 4 top 5 finishes. She’s even made sporadic appearances in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage, so maybe a NASCAR ride is in her future.

Amber Balcaen: ARCA Menards Series

Amber Balcaen competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Venturini as Breidinger’s teammate. Balcaen is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and she has 11 career ARCA top-10 finishes. Her best finish is 6th, coming at Daytona in 2023. She became the first Canadian-born female to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race in 2016 at Motor Mile Speedway in Virginia.

Lindsay Brewer: Indy NXT

Lindsay Brewer took the next step on the IndyCar ladder o start 2024. After spending the last two seasons in the USF2000 Series, she joined Juncos Holinger Racing for the 2024 Indy NXT season. However, she was dropped before the Mid-Ohio race for “Unfulfilled” contractual obligations.

Jamie Chadwick: Indy NXT

Jamie Chadwick came from overseas to compete in Indy NXT for Andretti Global. A 3-time Champion in the new defunct W Series, Chadwick established herself as one of the top female open-wheel drivers in the world. She won her first Indy NXT Race at Road America this year and could have the inside track to a top IndyCar ride.

Tatiana Calderon: IMSA

Tatiana Calderon came as close as any current female driver has to racing in Formula One. She spent the 2019 season racing just one step downward in Formula 2. Since then, she has appeared in IndyCar and sports cars and currently competes in the GTD class in IMSA.

Katie Hettinger: CARS Tour

At only 16 years old, Katie Hettinger competes full-time in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour for Mike Darne Racing. In 2023, she made 4 starts in the CARS Tour, with a best finish of 12th at North Wilkesboro.

Jessica Cann: CARS Tour

Jessica Cann is a CARS Tour veteran who will return to the series in 2024. In 2020, she recorded two top-10 finishes, with a best of 8th at Swansboro and a 10th-place finish at Thornburg.

Melissa Fifield: Modifieds

A mainstay of the NASCAR Modifieds, Wakefield, New Hampshire’s Melissa Fifield has made 146 career starts in NASCAR’s oldest division. In 2023, she recorded her best finish ever on the Tour, finishing 12th at Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York.

These are all female drivers racing in closed-circuit motorsports. They are following in the footsteps of women before them and continuing to blaze new trails for female drivers.

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