What’s Happening?

Despite an early and ugly ending to her first full-time Xfinity Series season, Hailie Deegan is drawing interest from an intriguing race team. On Saturday, Joe Custer, the President of the newish Haas Factory Team, told the media that the team had spoken to Deegan and that they think she still has potential. However, Custer stopped short of committing to Deegan as the team’s driver for 2025.

Yes, we’ve spoken with [Deegan]. Obviously she was with one of our technical partners, so that’s a challenge to see what the future is with her. We believe there is more in her, and we want to be a part of that, but that is for future conversations.

Joe Custer

• Haas Factory Team was formed from the fallout of the current Stewart-Haas Racing, which will shut down at the end of the year. Haas has at least one Xfinity Series seat open for 2025, with Cole Custer moving up to the Cup Series to drive the No. 41 car. Joe Custer also announced during this press conference that the team had offered Riley Herbst a 2025 Xfinity Series ride with the team. Still, Herbst is mulling other opportunities, including our sources saying he is a candidate at 23XI Racing, meaning two seats could open up at the team.
• Hailie Deegan spent the first half of 2024 with AM Racing, a race team aligned with Stewart-Haas Racing. She struggled in her first full-time Xfinity Series season with no top-10s and only four top-20 finishes in 17 races. Joey Logano replaced Deegan for the Chicago Street race, finishing eighth, and Deegan and AM Racing announced the following Monday that they had parted ways.
• For now, Deegan is without a ride in NASCAR and has shown interest in multiple racing disciplines. She intends to race this weekend in the SpeedTour All-Star Race at Lime Rock Park for Team SLR-M1, and YouTuber David Land spotted Deegan at Iowa Speedway during the IndyCar weekend hanging around the Indy NXT garage. Nothing has materialized on the IndyCar front for now.

Watch the full clip of Joe Custer’s comments below:

Does This Make Sense?

This is far from a done deal, and it’s tough to call Deegan the undisputed “Favorite” to land one of these Xfinity Series seats. However, it is important for someone as high a ranking as Joe Custer to publicly declare that they have spoken to Deegan and even mention that the team has offered Riley Herbst a seat.

Typically, teams and drivers are very tight-lipped about who they meet with regarding open seats. Just this Silly Season, Front Row Motorsports, The Wood Brothers, and Joe Gibbs Racing never publicly declared their interest in any drivers until the moves became official.

However, declaring that they’ve met with a driver and actually signing them are two totally different things. Similar to a real-world job opening, when seats at NASCAR teams open up, there’s a lot of outside interest, and teams often talk to multiple candidates before zeroing in on the top choice. It doesn’t always work like that, as some teams often focus on just one driver they know they want and work from there. However, the point still stands that just because there is interest from a team or a driver doesn’t necessarily mean a contract is guaranteed.

From the Haas Factory Team’s perspective, they could give Deegan the stability she needs to succeed in the Xfinity Series. Partnering her with a team capable of winning a Championship and giving her an extended run could be good. Her massive fanbase also makes her very marketable, which could help sell sponsors the new team needs.

From Deegan’s perspective, she was let go halfway through the season after poor performance across the board over the last few seasons. Many drivers in her situation don’t get another opportunity, so it will be hard to turn down if this comes along.

However, Deegan’s struggles go far deeper than a failed Xfinity Series season. She hasn’t won a professional motorsports event since 2019 in the ARCA Menards Series West, which was then known as the K&N Pro Series West. Since she joined the NASCAR National Touring Series in 2021, she has five top-10s with only two laps led in 87 races combined. The bottom line is that her performance has been bad across multiple series for multiple years with multiple teams, so it’s no guarantee that Haas Factory Team will be the magic bullet she needs.

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