Hailie Deegan's tumultuous tenure with AM Racing was doomed from the start

In Deegan's place, Joey Logano wheeled the No. 15 car to a season-best result of eighth, besting Deegan's season-best finish of 12th at Talladega. 

While one sole reason for the team's struggles can't be found, two big culprits seem to each be shouldering the blame - a young, inexperienced driver who was rushed through the ranks of NASCAR, and a team that seemed to regress with every passing week. 

It seems as though Deegan's impressive Xfinity Series debut in 2022 blinded fans to the fact that, after three years in the Truck Series, the once highly sought after prospect never found any semblance of consistent speed. Even when Deegan was paired with a championship winning organization in ThorSport Racing for 2023, she struggled to stay in the same zip code as her teammates, and her struggles were only exacerbated when teammate Ben Rhodes won the championship. 

While AM Racing proved to be competitive with Brett Moffitt in 2023, numerous personnel changes, including a crew chief change during the course of the 2024 season, sent the team into a downward spiral that landed them in the basement of the Xfinity Series. 

With mechanical failures becoming more frequent and Deegan's progress seeming to stall, the split makes sense for both parties. AM Racing now has the chance to have a rotating cast of drivers provide feedback, while Deegan has the rest of 2024 to evaluate her career and any potential future moves. 

In NASCAR, some team and driver combinations just don't mesh. Deegan and AM Racing can now be added to the list of marriages that simply failed to get off the launching pad.