Hailie Deegan

Hailie Deegan is the first female driver to win a race in the K&N Pro Series.

Hailie, born in 2001, only began racing seriously in 2017. She finished two CARS Super Late Model Tour events and was unspectacular, if reliable. Her career only really got started in 2018, when she signed up for a full season in the K&N Pro Series West, driving Bill McAnally’s Toyota. She was still only 16. In her early teens, she had been a successful off-road racer with junior titles to her name.

Her season began with a promising seventh place at Bakersfield, then it wasn’t long before the “firsts” began to stack up. She earned her first top-five finish two months later, coming in fourth at Orange Show and then fifth at Colorado. Her first pole position was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track; she finished second. However, her next race, at Meridian, yielded her first win, from fourth on the grid. Before the end of the season, she had racked up another pole at Bakersfield and two top-ten finishes.

As well as the Western Pro Series, she did some rounds of the Eastern championship. This was far less successful, beginning with a non-finish at Smyrna due to electrical problems and ending with crashes at Iowa and Gateway. In between, she managed a best finish of thirteenth at Memphis.

Away from championship races, she won a heat of the 2018 Star Nursery series at Las Vegas. A second attempt at the Star Nursery in February 2019 led to a fourth place, from pole.

2019 started with the first race of the Pro Series East championship, at New Smyrna. Again, Hailie had to retire her Toyota with electrical problems. Back in the West series at her favoured Vegas track, she earned another win after a last-lap dash to the front. She had started from eighth on the grid. She won again at Colorado, from fourth, and was second at Roseville from pole. In all, she scored six podiums during the season and was third in the championship.

Her part-season in the Pro Series West was not as stellar, often due to non-finishes. She started with a pole at Smyrna, but could only finish 16th after electrical problems. She was ninth at Bristol and Gateway, her best Western results of the year.

In 2020 she concentrated on the ARCA Menards Series, running in David Gilliland's Ford for the full season. It was a strong season with two second places at Daytona and Springfield, plus two further top-five finishes. The only time she was out of the top ten was when she did not finish, which was a fairly uncommon occurrence. She was third in the championship.

She also did her first race in the NASCAR Truck series in 2020. It was a single-race deal for the Kansas event and she was 16th overall, having started in 34th place.

The Truck series was her main on-track home in 2021 and she did all 22 rounds. Mostly, she ran in the mid-field and managed to stay out of trouble, although she did show some flashes of speed, especially in qualifying. The Gateway oval was her best circuit and she was a season's-best seventh there.

Another full season in Craftsman Trucks beckoned in 2022, with David Gilliland's team. It was another mid-ranking season, but she managed a career-best sixth at the Talladega Superspeedway. This was her second top-ten of the year after a tenth place at Mid-Ohio.

She also made her debut in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas, in Bobby Dotter's car. She was thirteenth, from 35 finishers.

A full-time move back to Trucks followed. The 2023 season started badly with crashes at Daytona and Las Vegas, but she was twelfth at Atlanta from 32nd on the grid. Her first top ten was two races later, at Fort Worth, followed by thirteenth at Bristol from sixth on the grid. She had a mid-season slump, although she remained a consistant finisher, but did get back on the pace at Talladega, finsihing eighth. She was 19th in the championship.

Hallie’s on-track nickname is “Dirt Princess”. She returned to her dirt-track roots in 2021, racing a SxS vehicle in both the Nitro Rallycross and Camping World SRX Series. She was fourth and fifth in the two finals at the rallycross event, held at The Firm in North Carolina.

Her father is motocross racer Brian Deegan.

(Image from https://hometracks.nascar.com)