What’s Happening?

As the NASCAR Xfinity Series season heads into the summer stretch, Hailie Deegan sits 28th in points, the lowest of any full-time driver. This is far from a one-year thing, either, so the question must be asked: Is, Hailie Deegan running out of time?

• Hailie Deegan was one of the hottest prospects in NASCAR in the late 2010s. She won three races in the ARCA Menards Series West with two top-five points finishes. In 2020, she moved up to the ARCA Menards Series full-time, where, while she did not win a race, she still nabbed 17 top-10s in 20 races to finish third in points.
• However, things took a nosedive the following year in the Truck Series. In a three-year stint, she had only five top-10s in 69 starts, and she finished no better than 17th in the points standings while racing in solid equipment. In 2024, she moved up to the Xfinity Series, and things have gotten no better.
• Fans are growing impatient with Hailie Deegan. While she has legions of fans who want to see her do well, she’s just not performing at the level anyone hoped.

How Bad Has It Been Really?

It’s fair to say that Hailie Deegan is not racing in the best equipment this season. AM Racing is only in its second season in the Xfinity Series. However, they’re not necessarily new to racing as they have five ARCA wins and have competed off and on in the Craftsman Truck Series over the past decade.

Last season, Brett Moffitt, 2018 Craftsman Truck Series Champion, drove for the team in the Xfinity Series and did a solid job. He recorded nine top-10s with 23 top-20s and a best finish of fourth at the Chicago Street Race. He finished 15th in the points standings as a result. A solid debut for a new team.

Has Hailie Deegan matched those numbers? The season is 14 races old, and she has no top-10s and only four top-20s. She sits 28th in points, last among full-time drivers, and worse than three drivers who don’t compete full-time (Ryan Truex, Kyle Sieg, and Aric Almirola). After 12 races, AM Racing made a crew chief swap, replacing Joe Williams with Matt Lucas.

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The new pairing has only two races together, but in both races, Deegan qualified in the last row with finishes of 33rd and 32nd at Portland and Sonoma, respectively. Granted, Deegan is not known as a great road course racer, and the team dealt with mechanical problems at Sonoma. Still, that’s an underwhelming start to that pairing.

Where Does She Go From Here?

When Ford announced that Deegan would move from Trucks to Xfinity in November of 2023, Ford Performance’s Mark Rushbrook was very candid about Deegan’s performance. Rushbrook mentioned that Deegan hasn’t given Ford the “Sustained performance” they want.

Almost halfway through the 2024 season, Deegan is again struggling to maintain consistent performance. How much more can Ford take, and how much longer of a leash will she get? She brings funding and a big fanbase, which helps her cause, but she’s still not performing at the level she needs to be.

It’s definitely a bummer, given how much hype was surrounding Deegan just a few years ago. However, that hype train has derailed, and her future is uncertain, especially if she’s not giving Ford what they hoped to see.

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