Hailie Deegan explains move to Indy NXT, outlook on NASCAR future

This is the first year since 2018 that Hailie Deegan won’t make substantial starts in a stock car, choosing her new career in Indy NXT. In the secondary series for IndyCar, Deegan is taking on a new opportunity and challenge outside of NASCAR.

While she grew up racing go-karts, Hailie Deegan has been a stock car driver for many years. Moving back to an open-wheel vehicle and series will be tough. Still, she has confidence heading into 2025.

Speaking with Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports during IndyCar media days, Deegan opened up about the switch.

“For me when it comes to racing, I like all racing. I grew up go-karting and when the opportunity kind of arose to get in an open-wheel car. I took it, I fell in love with it, and really, I’ve always loved road course racing and I always felt like I had some of my stronger runs on road courses in the past. So, being able to go back to that is really key for me.”

For those hoping to see Hailie Deegan in NASCAR again, don’t get your hopes up. But you can’t count it out either. It comes down to dollars.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say my NASCAR days are done. I think if there’s an opportunity, if someone wants to pay for a ride, yeah, I’ll do it. But now it’s too much money for a lot of sponsors to put to the table and that’s something that was kind of a big factor for me. It’s hard to get sponsor money, it’s hard to get to that number of sponsor money. I think on this side of things when the opportunity came up, I just took it.”

Hailie Deegan will race for HMD Motorsports in 2025. This is a large team and there is likely going to be more focus on developing drivers like Deegan versus asking for and needing wins.

HMD had the Rookie of the Year in Indy NXT in 2024. Caio Collet finished 3rd overall in his first season with a win, a pole, and six podiums in 14 races. This season, HMD will run seven more full-time drivers.

Hailie Deegan will be teammates with Sophia Floersch. Floersch, a 24-year-old from Germany, has spent her career in endurance races and raced in Formula 3 for a time as well. They should be the two most exciting women in the series for 2025.