Hailie Deegan heads to Homestead with new vibe: Some NASCAR momentum

Hailie Deegan heads to Homestead this week with a wee bit of wind at her back.

Through two full-time seasons in NASCAR’s Truck Series, momentum has rarely been a passenger, so she's welcoming the company.

“I learned so much that I haven’t got it processed yet. But I’m just happy we were able to have a good run,” she said this past Saturday after her first start in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.

Her 13th-place, lead-lap finish — in a Ford owned by Bobby Dotter — was the best debut ever for a woman in the Xfinity Series, and it came on the heels of her best 2022 finish in the Truck Series — a sixth-place run at Talladega.

Hailie Deegan's crew-chief change pays off a bit in NASCAR's Truck Series

A crew-chief change several weeks back has had positive — if somewhat modest — results during Jerry Baxter’s four-race run atop the pit box. After finishes of 26th and 22nd at Richmond and Kansas, Deegan has taken her No. 1 Ford truck to a 14th at Bristol followed by the sixth at Talladega, both on the lead lap.

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Her other Truck Series top-10 this year was on the Mid-Ohio road course.

Deegan's David Gilliland Racing team isn’t one of the Truck Series’ upper-tier, best-funded operations, but it was hoped Deegan would overachieve enough this year to warrant a possible promotion to the Xfinity Series.

That still may happen, because marketing and sponsorship interest is still a major driver in auto racing, as it has always been. If a combination of team and bill-payer comes along, Deegan’s 2023 plans might involve a sedan instead of a pickup.

And her series debut at Vegas suggests a car might be more to her liking.

“We were able to have a pretty fun day, a pretty clean day and super happy,” the 21-year-old California native said afterward. “I’d say that once we really got into that second stage to third stage, that’s when I started feeling a lot better about it.”

Deegan's 2023 NASCAR plans still unannounced

Officially, Deegan’s 2023 plans haven’t been released, though it appears her Gilliland Racing tenure will end at two years — the team is expected to start fielding Toyotas next year, which leaves the Ford-employed Deegan in search mode.

Her Vegas debut certainly didn’t hurt her prospects.

“When you run great, it helps deals for the future,” she told the media in Las Vegas. “Running Xfinity costs a very big bill. You’ve got to have sponsors to pay that bill. Trying to get the funding set is definitely tough, but we’re still trying to figure out what we’re doing.

“I wish I had answers for you guys. I want answers myself. At the end of the day, the more sponsors the better. We’re still trying to work on getting more on board. We don’t know when it’s going to be. It could be next year. It could be two years. I don’t know.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Hailie Deegan is Homestead-bound with a new NASCAR passenger: Momentum