Hailie Deegan points to sponsorship, funding issues for ending NASCAR career

Never say never, but Hailie Deegan likely won’t be back in NASCAR unless, as she puts it, a few million dollars happens to show up at her door. Funding for a competitive ride in the Xfinity Series, her preferred series, has become too expensive.

Hailie Deegan raced about half the year with AM Racing in the Xfinity Series for 2024. She would eventually be taken out of the ride and replaced with a number of drivers, who admittedly, didn’t do much better.

The fallout at AM Racing left her without a ride. So, Deegan began to attend IndyCar and Indy NXT races, and the rumors began shortly after. Now she’s lined up to race with HMD Motorsports for the NXT season.

More focused on driver development than sponsorship, the cost difference between NXT and Xfinity is enough to make the difference for Deegan.

“I’m not actively trying to look for a ride or anything, but if a couple million dollars falls in my lap, awesome,” Hailie Deegan told Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press. “Same thing for everybody. Not many opportunities come unless you got deep pockets. I think a lot of people fail to realize that on the NASCAR side of things, it is such a crazy number. So if $6 million to run for a quality Xfinity team just came out of nowhere, fell off a tree, for sure I’d do it.”

Landing sponsors is hard. Landing sponsors as a second-tier series team is even harder. That $6 million figure is the most revealing thing, to be honest. There aren’t that many drivers or teams that can come up with that kind of money.

Hailie Deegan is hoping this move will be for the best. She will be in good hands.

Indy NXT could be the best for Hailie Deegan

As far as Deegan’s development goes, there have been a lot of stumbling blocks along the way. Kevin Harvick in the past has said that she needs to go to a team where development is the focus. With HMD Motorsports, she likely gets that.

In the K&N Series, Deegan showed a lot of promise. There were moments in the Truck Series where she ran well. A flash or two in the Xfinity Series. It was disappointing to see her get left in the draft at Talladega, even to the detriment of those who left her out to drop from the top-5 to outside of the top-10.

So, a new series, new drivers, and a new culture. That is what Deegan gets with HMD and the Indy NXT series. She is on a team that has a lot of drivers, so she won’t necessarily be in the spotlight. A lot of this makes sense if you are Deegan.

Hailie Deegan has a real opportunity to actually work on her craft. That is all a racer can ask for. Little sponsorship pressure, she isn’t the face of the team, and a 14-race schedule.