How is Hailie Deegan Doing in IndyCar?
What’s Happening? One major storyline of the 2024 NASCAR season was Hailie Deegan losing out on her Xfinity Series ride, and…
While the Silly Season for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has been rather quiet, things could be heating up, as a new rumor claims that Hailie Deegan could be headed back to Trucks in 2026.
Hailie Deegan was once considered a top NASCAR prospect for Ford, but, at the start of the 2025 season, the 24-year-old was without a NASCAR ride.
As the daughter of motocross legend Brian Deegan, Deegan grew up in a racing background, and quickly flew through the lower levels of NASCAR, winning three ARCA Menards Series West races in 2018 and 2019.
In 2020, Deegan moved up to full-time ARCA Menards Series action, and though she did not win, she pieced together a solid season against competition like Sam Mayer and Chandler Smith. That same season, Deegan made her NASCAR National Series debut in the Truck Series with DGR-Crosley, ultimately going full-time with the team in 2021.
However, Deegan’s momentum would stop here, after two full-time seasons with DGR, and a shift to the ThorSport Racing, Deegan had finished no higher than 17th in points by the end of the 2023 season. Nonetheless, Deegan would announce plans to race full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024, signing with AM Racing.
Deegan would once again not achieve lofty expectations at this level, as the two would part ways just 17 races into the season, leaving her without a ride and leading to her eventual shift to the IndyNXT Series this season.
After finishing no higher than 11th and 14th in points in rookie season in open wheel, fans were wondering what Deegan’s plans for 2026 were. While a return to IndyNXT seemed likely, a recent post from BrakeHard suggests that Deegan could be headed back to trucks; the only question is, what team could this be?
What’s Happening? One major storyline of the 2024 NASCAR season was Hailie Deegan losing out on her Xfinity Series ride, and…
As of press time, Deegan has yet to announce any plans for the 2026 season, and while this is not a guarantee she could return to NASCAR and the Truck Series, if she is looking for a spot in the truck series, there are already several options.
First and foremost is a spot at ThorSport Racing. The four, sometimes five, truck team is parting ways with its longest tenured driver, Matt Crafton, at the end of this season. While Ty Majeski is filling Crafton’s No. 88 for 2026, this seemingly leaves an opening in the No. 98.
Deegan’s first tenure with ThorSport was not great, but if she were to return to NASCAR, returning to ThorSport would be a more than ideal landing spot.
Another notable opening, or perhaps openings, could be at Niece Motorsports.
This season, the team initially planned to field full-time entries for Matt Millis, Christian Rose, and Kaden Honeycutt. However, Rose was out of the No. 44 before the start of the season, and the team cut ties with Honeycutt in August, claiming he had signed with a new team and OEM for 2026.
After cutting out Honeycutt, the team brought on former Spire Motorsports driver Andrés Pérez de Lara for the rest of the season. However, the team has yet to confirm its 2026 lineup, meaning there could be one to two spots open for next season. While Niece is not the top of the heap in the series, it is a competitive spot with new ownership, indicating it could be a safe landing spot for a driver returning to NASCAR.
Finally, and an option most likely to point to, is Kaulig Racing, which is opening a five-truck operation for the 2026 with Ram, who is returning to the sport after leaving over a decade ago. While rumors suggest that Brendan Queen or Daniel Dye could sign with the team, Deegan could easily slide into one of these five full-time seats.
Ultimately, if Deegan were to return to NASCAR, it would mark the end to an odd period in her career, but, perhaps she will return better than ever, having taken on a new style of racing and schedule throughout this season.
What’s Happening? Following the announcement that Kaulig Racing is going to Truck Series racing with NASCAR’s newest OEM Ram, rumors are…
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Following last week’s shocking lawsuit filed by Joe Gibbs Racing against their former Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart, team owner and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr chimed in with his take on how the lawsuit will unfold.
Entering the 2026 NASCAR season, most fans felt that a messy season, which saw multiple lawsuits filed between teams and one including NASCAR itself, was in the review mirror.
This illusion lasted not even one week after the 2026 season opening Daytona 500, with Joe Gibbs Racing filing a lawsuit against their former Crew Chief and Competition Director, Chris Gabehart, claiming he stole sensitive information from the team before jumping to Spire Motorsports.
Though the two have yet to come to blows over the matter in court, this battle is quickly picking up steam, with JGR since adding Spire as a co-defendant, and Gabehart filing a fiery and accusatory response on Wednesday afternoon.
Prior to these new additions, NASCAR Hall of Famer and co-owner of JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., shared his thoughts on the lawsuit, alongside a prediction on how it will end, during the latest episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr Download.
What’s Happening? Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart, alleging he took confidential team information…
During this episode, Earnhardt provided some valuable commentary on the issue, though this did not come from his perspective as a driver. Rather, it came from his insights as an active owner in one of NASCAR’s highest divisions.
The long-time co-owner of JR Motorsports said that situations like this are the reason why teams make employees sign a non-compete clause, which would prevent them from working in a similar capacity in the sport for a period of time.
“The reason why they get them to do that is that they do not want to race against that information the very next week. Or the very next year,” Earnhardt said. “And so, while that person does sign the non-compete, they do have all that information.”
Ultimately, Earnhardt sees two sides to the conflict, saying that Gabehart did something that “has been going on forever” by taking his knowledge and skills to a new team after a rocky end to his time as JGR’s Competition Director.
In fact, as Earnhardt pointed out, losing a veteran, championship-caliber Crew Chief to the competition is something JRM went through just this past off-season, when former Xfinity Series Champion Jim Pohlman left the team for Richard Childress Racing.
While Pohlman is competing in the Cup Series for RCR, Earnhardt acknowledged that he is sure JRM is racing against some of the knowledge that the champion Crew Chief took with him, be that literally or metaphorically, on Saturdays, as RCR has a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program.
“RCR hired Jim Pohlman. You don’t think I’m racing against some of this **** that Jim did here in the O’Reilly Series? We know that. We expect that.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr
But, in contrast, Earnhardt acknowledges that JGR isn’t trying to prevent Gabehart from working, but rather, to protect the millions of dollars they have poured into R&D.
The long-time short track racer also added that this is just part of racing in the highest form of stock car racing, saying that compared to local racing, or even the Truck Series, you probably wouldn’t see a lawsuit like this, but “when it’s $150 to $200 million a year,” the stakes are high.
Nonetheless, Earnhardt admits he is curious to see what is to come of the lawsuit, given the shocking claims that Gabehart was using company equipment to offload this information from JGR.
Unfortunately, in his eyes, those on the outside looking in at this lawsuit will probably never truly know what happened, as the NASCAR veteran thinks that Spire will try to settle.
“I think this settles. I bet [the] money guy at Spire says, ‘You know what? Let’s make this go away, let’s move on,’ and I think that we’ll never really truly know,” Earnhardt said.
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
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While he may not have the accolades of some of the top names in NASCAR, collectors in the NASCAR community are starting to take notice of some outrageous resale prices for Carson Hocevar merchandise. So what exactly is going on here?
Of every subgroup within the NASCAR community, be that gamers, car fanatics, or just motorsports fans, there is perhaps no group more passionate than NASCAR collectors.
Whether it’s cards, sheet metal, merch, or diecast, NASCAR collectors have built a sprawling community of their own across the online NASCAR world to discuss everything you can imagine, from diecast production rumors to what collectables are fetching the highest prices.
A major topic of discussion in the NASCAR collector community this week, specifically in a now-deleted post to the r/NASCAR subreddit, was some sky-high prices for memorabilia of one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ most talked-about drivers, Carson Hocevar.
It’s no surprise that fans are clamoring for more Hocevar collectables. After all, he might have one of the most well-received personalities and racing styles in sports’ recent history, with many fans taking to his unapologetic racing and outgoing personality.
Of course, he has his detractors, as, at the same time, some of his fellow drivers have warned of some form of karma catching up to the former Rookie of the Year down the road.
But, if there were ever any doubt as to whether or not “Hurricane” Hocevar was shooting up the popularity charts in the grandstands, look no further than some of his merchandise being sold on sites like eBay.
For example, a Chili’s snapback hat that is similar to one that retailed for $50 on Spire Motorsports’ website before quickly selling out was recently resold on eBay for $122.50.
Now, a 145% increase is a lot for an unsigned, or non-race used hat (that also features no reference to Hocevar, Spire, or even the No. 77 team) might seem like an outlier, but what about a 1:64 scale diecast?
Well, prices are shooting up in that department as well, as an eBay auction for a 1:64 scale diecast of his 2025 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet, which Lionel retailed for $11.75, sold for $41.00 just this morning.
If you think that’s a high price to buy a 1:64 at, what about 1:24 scale diecast? Well, this time you might want to sit down, because, on Wednesday afternoon, a 1:24 scale diecast of Hocevar’s Zeigler paint scheme from his 2024 Rookie of the Year season sold for $449.99.
Now it’s fun to window shop these wild prices, but they may leave you asking why they’re selling for that much.
Now, there are a lot of reasons why NASCAR merchandise will spike in value, and looking at the forces that are behind Hocevar, there is little to suggest that these high prices are going down anytime soon.
First, given his recent performance, some fans could see buying now as an investment, hoping that these items could pull a pretty penny down the line should Hocevar develop into a title contender.
This is similar to how a driver like Kyle Larson has seen their early merchandise (such as diecast from his days at Chip Ganassi Racing) skyrocket in value as his success and popularity have grown in and even outside of the NASCAR community.
Of course, not every NASCAR collector is in it for the current or future value of the item. For example, there are completionist collectors who collect every diecast or hat they can find for one specific driver or team.
Finally, there are those who, plain and simple, like Hocevar, and want to show their pride in whatever they can.
After all, whether it’s his social media presence, his on-track actions, or off-track persona, Hocevar is proving to a lot of drivers in the garage that personality goes a long way.
But, nonetheless, these different groups have all combined to make a highly competitive marketplace for Hocevar’s merchandise, pushing prices to levels that, just a handful of years ago, seemed highly unlikely for the upstart Rookie just promoted from the Craftsman Truck Series.
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iRacing has finally given NASCAR fans a first look at the in-game model of the NASCAR Ram Truck slated to join the racing sim’s lineup in the near future.
Though iRacing says the Ram model is still pending approvals, this announcement marks a major milestone for Ram in its 2026 return to NASCAR, as this is the first appearance the brand will make in motorsports gaming in well over a decade.
Of course, the next major question facing Ram will be its inclusion in iRacing’s next edition of their console-based NASCAR game series, which most expect to be titled NASCAR 26.
iRacing was open about its use of models from its self-titled subscription-based online racing service for NASCAR 25. But, as of press time, they have yet to announce any details about the next game, although it’s fair for players to assume the Ram model used for iRacing will likely be used in the next NASCAR console game.
The NASCAR news for iRacing Season 2 didn’t stop at Ram, as iRacing also confirmed that the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, a new addition to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule in 2026, will join its track list during Season 2.
iRacing also confirmed tweaks to the in-game physics of both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, focused on updating the series’ in-game drafting model.
But the biggest news of all (beyond Ram, of course) is that iRacing plans to have NASCAR’s San Diego Street Circuit at Naval Base Coronado ready for play before the end of the 2026 season, with the Development Update claiming they are targeting a release date sometime in June.
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