Struggling Hailie Deegan may not be ready for bright lights of NASCAR

At the conclusion of 2020, the Hailie Deegan hype train couldn't have been more full. Halfway through the 2024 season, however, it seems Deegan's NASCAR career is heading in the wrong direction. 

After winning three ARCA West races over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Deegan was called up to the ARCA Menards Series for a full-time season in 2020, finishing third in points.

In 2021, Deegan was tapped to drive the No. 1 truck for DGR-Crosley full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Deegan wasn't awful in 2021, finishing 17th in points, but unfortunately, 2022 was a slightly worse Truck Series season for Deegan as she slipped to 21st. A 13th-place finish in her Xfinity Series debut at Las Vegas, though, gave fans hope that she was better suited for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where most drivers are able to develop their race craft. 

2023 saw a new Truck Series team for Deegan in ThorSport Racing, which won the 2021 championship with Ben Rhodes. While Rhodes won another championship in 2023, however, Deegan once again struggled, dipping to 19th in points with only two top-10 finishes. 

2024 brought forth a new age for Deegan, however, as Xfinity Series team AM Racing signed Deegan for 2024. The team that helped Brett Moffitt garner nine top-10s and finish 15th in points in 2023 seemed like it was Deegan's best opportunity yet to prove herself in the top three series of NASCAR. 

Unfortunately, she hasn't capitalized. Deegan currently sits 29th in Xfinity Series points, the worst of all full-time drivers in the series. She sits behind drivers such as Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Matt DiBenedetto, who all have at least five fewer starts on the season. While a few bad finishes can be attributed to mechanical issues with her car, she just hasn't quite figured out how to drive her way through the pack yet. 

On their own, Deegan's struggles are no worse than those of a majority of drivers throughout NASCAR history. Plenty of drivers have been promising prospects, only to sputter when they reach the top three series. 

The factor that differentiates Deegan's struggles from others, however, is the quality of the teams she has struggled with. DGR-Crosley won races with the likes of Todd Gilliland and Ryan Preece while Deegan was with them, and during the one season that Deegan drove for ThorSport, three of her teammates made the Truck Series playoffs with Ben Rhodes taking home the championship at season's end. 

While Deegan doesn't have a teammate in 2024 to compare to, the aforementioned Brett Moffitt accomplished far more in the same car than Deegan has so far. While there are still 18 races remaining in the Xfinity Series season for Deegan to turn things around, the light at the end of the tunnel fades with every poor result. 

Deegan is certainly a talented racecar driver. Winning at any level of NASCAR — even the regional level, as Deegan did — is extremely impressive, and shouldn't be discounted. However, if a driver consistently performs worse than the peers they share equipment with, the problem would seem to fall on the driver.

Deegan has time to point her career in the right direction. After all, she's only 21 years old. But if the results don't start coming in soon, she may find herself back where she started, needing to prove herself to start another climb up the ladder.