Daughter of X-Games legend Brian Deegan looks to become series’ first female winner
at World Wide Technology Raceway
ARCA Menards Series driver Hailie Deegan has quickly made her share of history in stock car racing. Deegan will compete next in Saturday’s Dutch Boy 150 at World Wide Technology raceway in Madison, Illinois.
Already the first female to win a race in the former NASCAR K&N Pro Series, Deegan was also the first female to win rookie-of-the-year honors and established a record with her second-place finish in the West championship in 2019.
At 19 years old, the Temecula, California, driver is looking to make her mark in the ARCA Menards Series. Deegan, daughter of X-Games freestyle motocross legend Brian Deegan, scored three wins in her two seasons in the West with Bill McAnally Racing. All three wins – at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway in 2018, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Colorado National Speedway in 2019 — came with a pass on the final lap.
“I am going to race them hard for the win,” Deegan said. “The reason I wait until the last lap is that’s what my coach has told me to do. If it’s on the last lap, they don’t have any time to get back to you.”
The next time Deegan executes a pass for the win, it will be one for the record books. In its 68-year history, no female has ever driven into victory lane to celebrate a win in an ARCA Menards Series race. Before 2020, only Shawna Robinson and Erin Crocker-Evernham came close. Robinson finished second at Daytona in 1999, with Crocker taking a trio of runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2006.
In 2018, Natalie Decker started the season with the General Tire Pole Award at Daytona and raced her way to fifth in the race. She matched that result with another fifth-place finish at Elko, earned nine top-ten finishes and ultimately finished seventh in the final series standings.
The move from the West to the bigger venues of the ARCA Menards Series this year hasn’t been the only transition for Deegan in 2020. She moved to DGR-Crosley Racing, reuniting the Deegan family with the manufacturer that supported much of her father’s extreme sports success, Ford Performance. The move paid immediate results, as Deegan finished second at Daytona in the season opener, tying the all-time series record for best finish by a female driver held by Robinson and Crocker.
Currently, Deegan is tied for third in the ARCA Menards Series point standings, 56 behind leader Michael Self. She has two top-fives and 10 top-10s in 12 starts heading into this weekend’s Dutch Boy 150 at WWTR (6 pm ET, live, MAVTV).
Tickets for the event, which also features the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline, are available at wwtraceway.com or at St. Louis-area Menards stores at a substantial discount.
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