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Dean Thompson throws major shade at Hailie Deegan after Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro

JHby:Jonathan Howard•05/20/23•

Jondean25

Hailie Deegan North Wilkesboro
(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

It appears that Dean Thompson isn’t too happy about the driving that Hailie Deegan was doing on the track in the NASCAR Tyson 250. After the race, Thompson went to Twitter to throw a little passive-aggressive shade at his competitor. The two got into an incident with 67 laps to go in the race at North Wilkesboro.

Before TRICON Garage made the switch to Toyota, and in their name, Hailie Deegan was driving for that organization. Now, Deegan is with Thor Sport as Dean Thompson pilots the No. 5 Toyota Tundra.

Were the two drivers racing hard? Did Deegan feel she wasn’t being given respect? Did she lock her brakes for a second on this turn? Or did Thompson turn down into her? Lots of questions, and lots of takes depending on who you root for and against.

After the race, the two drivers did not talk to one another. Thompson, went on to finish P35 in a DNF effort. Meanwhile, Deegan finished P20 as Kyle Larson took the win. The No. 5 driver had this to say after the incident on Twitter.

“My parents taught me that if I didn’t have anything good to say to not say anything at all. … Onto Charlotte.”

Another season and the hits on Deegan continue. Is this justified or is it overblown?

Hailie Deegan in playoff position

Even after a P20 finish, Hailie Deegan is in a good position in the point standings. Sitting at 16t, Deegan has room to move up and room to fall. The beginning of this season was filled with tough finishes. However, at Atlanta, she found her footing. Then, at Texas she really found a groove finishing P6.

The good news is that ever since her P32 DNF finish at Las Vegas, Deegan has not fallen out of the top-20 once this year. Although, she would like to shake off some of these P20 finishes. In three of her last four races, Degan has finished P20.

So, just looking at what the results tell us, she’s finding consistency. Avoiding DNFs is a lot easier said than done in the Truck Series. It has been a plague for Hailie Deegan in her career before.

While Deegan would like to see more top-15 and top-10 finishes, those P20s will feel really good if she makes the playoffs on points. Many times, consistency like this is just a sign of bigger things to come.