History of Hailie Deegan in Timeline
July 18, 2001
Hailie Rochelle Deegan (born July 18, 2001) is an American racing driver. She is best known for competing in NASCAR stock car racing, last driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for AM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
2009
Deegan began riding dirt bikes at age seven, and started competing in short course off-road racing after being gifted a Trophy Kart for her eighth birthday. In 2009, she won in her first race in the SXS Stadium Series' Trophy Kart class. She also raced in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) Junior 1 Karts' final two races at Primm Valley Motorsports Complex. In 2013, she became the first female driver to win a LOORRS championship when she won the Junior 2 Karts class. Deegan became the Modified Kart Regional Champion in 2015 and became the Modified Kart National Champion the following year. She was also named 2016 Lucas Oil Off Road Driver of the Year. Deegan continued to race full-time in the Pro Lite division of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in 2017. She is one of four women to win a LOORRS class championship in its history alongside Corry Weller, Kali Kinsman, and Megan Mitchell.
2016
Deegan grew up racing off-road and on dirt, but transitioned to competing on asphalt in 2016 to pursue a career in stock car racing. She began her career in NASCAR in 2018 in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. She became the first female driver to have won races in the West Series, doing so in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. She is the daughter of Brian Deegan.
2016
Deegan was a NASCAR Drive for Diversity member in 2016, and she received the NASCAR Diversity Young Racer award the following year. 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 woman. She also became a member of Toyota's driver development program.
2016
In 2016, Deegan began her transition to asphalt racing 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.
2018
At Roseville in 2018, one week after scoring her first career victory on a bump-and-run pass, Deegan was penalized one lap late in the race for contact with Trevor Huddleston. In 2019, driving in her ARCA debut at Toledo, Deegan finished last after contact with Joe Graf Jr. and declared she was "done playing nice." Deegan's rough driving in the K&N West race at Gateway led to an argument with series veteran Todd Souza. Souza stated that her on-track behavior was "full-on disrespect" and was quoted as saying Deegan "drives like she's a spoiled rotten little baby."
January 03, 2018
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 was the only female driver who competed full-time in either 2018 K&N Series. 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 Sprint 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 [Kevin Harvick Incorporated] would want to represent and has the most potential,' it would probably be Hailie Deegan. She did really, really well." On May 15, Deegan was announced as a NASCAR Next class member for the second straight year as one of four drivers returning to the program from the previous season. Among those in the 2018–19 class, she was once again the only woman as well as the youngest member. She scored her first career top-five finish on May 19, finishing fourth at Orange Show Speedway.
2019
Deegan returned to BMR in 2019 for another full and partial schedule in the K&N West and East Series respectively. At the East season-opening race at New Smyrna, qualifying was rained out, allowing Deegan to inherit pole position after setting the fastest practice time. Deegan led the first six laps but eventually retired from the race, finishing 16th after suffering a mechanical issue at New Smyrna for the second consecutive year. Prior to the 2019 season, the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's race date was moved to serve as the season-opening race for the West Series. Deegan earned her second career K&N Pro Series win in the event with another last-lap pass, this time on Sunrise Ford Racing's Jagger Jones.
2019
Known for her aggressive on-track moves, all three of Deegan's wins in the K&N Pro Series West came after making contact with another car, while her last one saw her spin out her teammate entirely. Racer's Kelly Crandall wrote in 2019, "Deegan doesn't care what anyone on or off the track thinks, and she has repeatedly made it clear she's here to win races, will do so at any cost, and then climb out and tell you all about it. Deegan has embraced her reputation as an aggressive driver, attributing it to her family's roots in motocross.
March 01, 2019
On March 1, 2019, Deegan announced plans to compete in six races for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series. Deegan made her series debut at Toledo in Venturini's No. 55 Toyota Camry on May 19. She ranked 12th in both practice and qualifying, finishing 18th and last after being involved in a crash with Joe Graf Jr. At Colorado National Speedway, Deegan earned her third career K&N West win, though some deemed the victory controversial as she spun out Kraus, her teammate, for the win on the final lap. Deegan took pole position at the following race in Sonoma, though she never led a lap in the race and finished eighth after late-race contact with teammate Lawless Alan.
2020
Deegan switched from Toyota's development driver program to Ford's at the end of 2019, signing a full-time ARCA Menards Series contract with DGR-Crosley, which themselves had announced a move to Ford the previous week. She cited Toyota's lack of available teams relative to their number of drivers as the reason for the switch, explaining, "there's so many Toyota drivers and there's not many seats. I think we made the best decision for my career long-term." Deegan's father Brian stated that she would focus on ARCA in 2020 to prepare her for the higher levels of NASCAR.
2020
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 No. 22 Ford GT4 ran as high as 15th but developed mechanical problems about three hours into the four-hour event. Deegan returned to the series at Laguna Seca, teaming up in the No. 22 Ford with Sebastian Priaulx.
2020
She ended the season with the Gateway top ten and a 17th-place points finish. Due to many races not having practice and qualifying as part of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Deegan regarded her rookie season as a "learning experience" in growing accustomed to life in the Truck Series. She also regarded her social media presence as a boon in her racing development as her popularity provided patience among sponsors. She was voted the 2021 Truck Series Most Popular Driver, marking the second straight season that a rookie received the award after Zane Smith did so in 2020.
September 2020
In September 2020, Deegan was criticized when comments surfaced from an audio podcast in which she called the COVID-19 pandemic a "hoax." In January 2021, she attracted criticism for calling another player a "retard" during an iRacing livestream on her Twitch channel. Deegan subsequently apologized after video of the incident was posted to social media. The next day, NASCAR announced that Deegan would be required to take sensitivity training prior to the start of the 2021 season.
October 07, 2020
On October 7, 2020, DGR-Crosley announced that Deegan would make her NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series debut in the team's No. 17 Ford at Kansas. She finished one lap down in 16th, the best result in Truck Series history for a woman in a series debut.
October 17, 2020
On October 17, 2020, Ford Performance announced that Deegan was in line to drive full-time in the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for DGR-Crosley, which was renamed David Gilliland Racing in January. Deegan's truck number, No. 1, was revealed on January 18, 2021.
2021
SRX combined points from Deegan and Tony Kanaan in 2021.
2021
In 2021, Deegan joined the newly formed Superstar Racing Experience. She finished second to Tony Stewart in her first race at Knoxville Raceway, which was followed by starts at Slinger Speedway and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway as a replacement for Tony Kanaan. The Slinger race was highlighted by a feud with Paul Tracy in which the two spun each other before arguing on Instagram.
December 2021
After moving to pavement racing, Deegan occasionally returned to off-road. In December 2021, she participated in the Nitro Rallycross' side-by-side (SXS) support class at Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park, where she finished fifth and fourth in two races. When the Truck Series had a weekend off on March 11–13, 2022, Deegan made her Mint 400 debut in the Unlimited Truck Spec class.
2022
In 2022, she returned to the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona, once again sharing a car with Briscoe. The pair placed 24th in the field of 48.
2022
She returned to SRX in 2022 for the Stafford Motor Speedway and I-55 Raceway rounds.
October 04, 2022
On October 4, 2022, Deegan announced she would make her NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the SS-Green Light Racing No. 07 at Las Vegas. She finished on the lead lap in 13th, the best result in Xfinity Series history for a woman in a series debut.
October 05, 2023
On October 5, 2023, Deegan signed a multi-year deal with AM Racing to drive the No. 15 starting in 2024. Following a string of disappointing finishes, AM Racing replaced Deegan with two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano for the Chicago street race. The team struggled throughout the season, only scoring four finishes of 20th or better through 17 races. On July 8, AM Racing and Deegan officially announced that they will go their separate ways.
October 27, 2023
Deegan is the daughter of Brian Deegan, founder of Metal Mulisha, a motocross rider, freestyle motocross, off-road racer, and multi-time X Games gold medalist. Her younger brother Haiden Deegan is a professional AMA supercross and motocross racer, and was the 2023 AMA SMX 250 champion. Her youngest brother Hudson has also competed in motocross. Deegan is in a relationship with dirt track racer and former NASCAR driver Chase Cabre. Cabre served as her co-driver in the 2022 Mint 400. On October 27, 2023, Deegan announced her engagement to Cabre in an Instagram post.
October 14, 2024
On October 14, 2024, It was announced that Deegan would race in the Indy NXT series in the No.38 HMD Motorsports car for the 2025 season.
2025
Starting in 2025, Deegan will move to American open-wheel racing, driving the No. 38 entry for HMD Motorsports in Indy NXT.