How Did Hailie Deegan Perform in Her Second NASCAR Race Back?

Hailie Deegan turned to the Indy NXT ladder after her run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024 came to an end. But that phase with HMD Motorsports never found a rhythm. Deegan failed to crack the top 10 in the open wheeled series, and the season closed with her in 14th place in the standings. The next turn in the road came in January when the 24-year-old confirmed a return to Bill McAnally Racing for a full campaign in 2026 in the ARCA Menards Series West.

Deegan opened the season with a sixth-place finish at the Kevin Harvick-owned Kern Raceway in Bakersfield on Feb. 28. Her teammate, Mason Massey, stole the spotlight at Kern Raceway, winning in his first start in the series. Eric Nascimento Jr. matched the best finish of his career with a run to second, while Taylor Mayhew, at age 15, reached the podium with a third-place result in her debut.

Deegan spent much of that Kern event running in fifth place before a restart shuffled the field and dropped her to eighth. This weekend, ahead of the upcoming IndyCar and NASCAR Cup races in Arizona, Deegan took her No. 16 Chevrolet to Phoenix Raceway and crossed the line in 11th place after spending part of the race a lap down. After the top-15 result, Deegan explained how the day went.

“We were so free to start. Just super super free. We were fighting all day in practice, and there just wasn’t enough time to work on it and to like kind of wholesale change what we needed to get done in practice. So we just didn’t make much headway with it in qualifying. There was some water on the track. We just got screwed for qualifying.”

“Just got a little free there in the water and stuff that was late on the track. First run was super free. So, once we got it tightened up during the halfway stage break, I feel like instantly our race turned around,” she added.

Even then, Deegan said the race did not fall her way when it came to cautions. She believed more yellow flags late in the race could have helped her pick off cars on the lead lap. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how the former Xfinity (now referred to as O’Reilly) driver performs in her second stint as a stock car racing driver. The next race is set to go live from Tucson Speedway on April 11, 2025, with its starting time yet to be decided.