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Deegan is the daughter of Brian Deegan, a motocross rider, off-road racer, and former X Games athlete. She attended Rancho Christian High School in her hometown of Temecula, California. She began riding dirt bikes at age seven, and started racing at the age of eight in the Lucas Oil Off Road Series. She has been the only female driver in the Lucas Oil Off Road Pro series, as well as regional series to win championships in 2013, 2015 and 2016, along with being the only youth to ever win the Lucas Oil Off Road Pro series Driver of the Year award (2016). Deegan became the Modified Kart Regional Champion in 2015 and became the Modified Kart National Champion the following year. She transitioned to competing on asphalt in 2016 to pursue a career in stock car racing; she started by driving Legends cars for Rev Racing. In 2017, she made her asphalt late model debut with a pair of CARS Super Late Model Tour starts, first at Tri-County Motor Speedway, and later at Hickory Motor Speedway. Also that year; at the age of 16 she graduated high school and received her diploma at Sonoma Raceway just hours before racing. In May 2017, Deegan was one of nine drivers named to the 2017 NASCAR Next class, in which she

was both the youngest member and the only female member. She also became a member of Toyota's driver development program. She also received the NASCAR Diversity Young Racer award that year. On January 3, 2018, Deegan was announced as a full-time driver in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West for Bill McAnally Racing (BMR), a team that had won the West Series championship each of the three previous seasons. It was announced that she would also run a part-time schedule for McAnally in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Deegan made her debut in the season-opening East Series race at New Smyrna Speedway on February 11, where she started ninth but retired on lap 19 due to mechanical problems. On March 15, Deegan made her West Series debut at Kern County Raceway Park finishing seventh. Kevin Harvick, NASCAR's

2014 Cup Series champion (who finished fourth), battled for position with Deegan at the end of the race and was impressed with her performance, saying, "If I had to pick one person to say, 'Alright, that's the person I would want to represent and has the most potential,' it would probably be Hailie Deegan. She did really, really well." Deegan was the only female driver who competed full-time in either 2018 K&N Series. At Sonoma, Deegan qualified third and received her high school diploma during driver introductions. She went on to finish seventh in the race, earning her sixth top-ten finish in six West Series races. In the 14 race schedule; Deegan had no finish worse than eighth except for two races she was caught up in crashes. She had two second place finishes before she grabbed her first victory. In Hailie’s first season driving in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in 2018, she scored her first win at the 1/4 mile bull ring of Meridian Speedway in Idaho. This made her the first female to ever win in the K&N Series.

She ran strong all day; and muscled her way by her teammate Cole Rouse on the final lap to take the win. Her win was the second for a female in a NASCAR touring series race, the first being Shawna Robinson's one win in the 1980s in the now-defunct NASCAR Dash Series. With a sixth-place finish two races later at the K&N West season finale at Kern County, Deegan closed the year by clinching Rookie of the Year honors for the series. In 2019 Deegan returned to drive for McAnally in the K&N Pro Series. She kicked off the season with a win on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Four races later she won again at Colorado National Speedway in Erie CO. Once again she

bypassed the leader on the final lap to get the win. For the season she got two wins and had a worst finish of 15th. She had eight Top 5 and 11 Top 10 finishes. She finished third in the points. In 2020 he had three top five finishes; and added eleven top tens; a career best. Deegan's move to Ford in 2020 included a foray into the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Multimatic Motorsports. She ran the 2020 series season-opener at Daytona with co-driver Chase Briscoe. Deegan and Briscoe finished 43rd out of 51 cars. The pair's #22 Ford GT4 ran as high as 15th but developed

mechanical problems about three hours into the four-hour event. She moved up to the ARCA Series in 2020 driving for the DGR Cosley Race team owned by David Gilliland. She went winless; but had a very strong showing for her first year. She had a worst finish of 18th the entire season; and that came after a crash. In 20 events she had four Top 5 results along with 17 Top 10 finishes. Michael Self just edged out Deegan at the season opening Daytona race; and he was also runner up at the Illinois State Fair Grounds dirt track late in the season. For 2021 she moved up to NASCAR and raced in the Truck Series. She drove the #1 David Gilliland Racing Ford full time. She ran most of the laps and got a lot of seat time, which should help her in 2022. She had several races where she raced most of the day just outside the Top 10; but something

happened to relegate her to a worse finish. Her best finish came at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, right outside St Louis. She finished in a strong seventh place run. She also ran well the following races at Bristol, Las Vegas and Talladega before being swept up in wrecks not of her doing. She finished off the season with a 19th at Martinsville and 17th at Phoenix. The young Rookie ended the year with ten Top 20 finishes; and was back in the Truck Series in 2022. After the 2021 season; Hailie expected to show a lot of progress in 2022. She had shown promise and with a season under her belly she expected to take a big step forward. But right off the bat things went bad. She managed to finish on the lead lap at

Daytona; coming home 17th. But four of the next six races she got caught up in a crash of someone else's making. The two races she did not have issues she finished on the lead lap, inside the top 20. It seemed she spent the whole season running well; but having poor finishes. Five of the next seven races she finished no worse than 17th and placed tenth at Mid-Ohio. Toward the end of the year she had a strong showing at Talladega bringing home her truck in a season best sixth place finish. She did venture out and make her first Xfinity start of her career. Many rumored that she was outside her area of talent and was jumping in

the pool on the deep end. Surely, she'd do well just to finish. Her start came at Las Vegas and in an underfunded car owned by Bobby Dotter. But the girl showed that even though she wasn't in the best equipment in the field; she could hold her own in the Xfinity Series. The race didn't have a bunch of yellow flags that allowed her to stay on the lead la p. In fact; the first two stages ran green the whole stage. The race only had one yellow flag and that was late in the race. She ran a smooth clean race; and like she felt right at home piloting the faster, more reactive Xfinity machine. She opened a lot of eyes when she brought her Ford home in 13th position. Things are in

in turmoil as 2022 ends. With Klye Busch leaving JGR and moving to drive a Chevy for RCR; that means Kyle Busch Motorsports will switch from Chevy to Toyota. So, that means other teams are jockeying around to fill that void and some drivers have no solidified a spot for 2023. Deegan and John Hunter Nemechek were two of those. Deegan was under contract with Ford; and teams who fielded Fords were in short supply. However; ThorSport Racing decided to swap from racing Toyota's to running Fords; and hired Deegan as one of their drivers for 2023. Being with a good team, she'll have to show her talents in 2023 to keep her ride. 2023 wasn’t as successful as had been hoped. With improvement expected with another years experience; and shifting to a good team with good

teammates; Deegan had much the same results as the previous year. In 23 starts, she had just two Top 10 finishes; a sixth at Texas (matching her career best), and an eighth at Talladega. She did have eight finishes inside the Top 15. It was announced in October that Deegan had signed a multi-year contract with AM Racing to wheel the #15 full time in the Xfinity Series in 2024. After one start in the Xfinity series the previous year; and a strong run finishing 13th; her new owner believes the Xfinity series will more fit her driving style. This will be a defining year for Hailie. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

HAILIE ROCHELLE DEEGAN - 07/18/2001