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Hailie Deegan has shared a heartwarming message for her fiance Chase Cabre, a former NASCAR driver, for helping ease her transition to racing in Indy NXT. She also raced in the world of NASCAR until last year before making the switch to open-wheel racing in 2025.
Deegan joined HMD Motorsports to race in Indy NXT, the top rung of IndyCar's junior ladder. Because of minimal prior experience in open-wheel racing, she has been struggling to match her rivals in pace.
The 23-year-old recently gave a shoutout to Cabre, who raced in the K&N Pro Series East for Rev Racing. She also emphasized how he is one of the sport's hidden gems and revealed the impact that their joint simulator sessions have on her racing.
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"I always tell him you are one of the most unrecognized talents that I’ve ever seen. He is so talented in everything he does," Hailie Deegan said via Indy NXT. "He deserved a lot in his career. He helps me a lot. He’s really good on simulators. He’s been doing it since he was 14. When I’m at home, we both have simulators at the house, so we're able to literally drive right next to each other. He pulls all the telemetry and the data, and I can overlay it with his."
"He was in the (sim racing) pro league during COVID, so he was doing all that. I’m not a sim person. I’m learning to be and want to be. It takes me time, so having something to reference of is really nice," she added.
Hailie Deegan has two private simulator racing setups in her home, the second of which she gifted to herself on her 23rd birthday in July 2024. She raced for AM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last year, parting ways after half a season because their goals no longer aligned.
Chaser Cabre began professionally racing stock cars in 2017 with REV Racing in the K&N Pro Series East. His third season in 2019 was the best, as he claimed two race wins in Memphis and New Hampshire. After 2020, he shifted focus to dirt racing.
Hailie Deegan steps up the pace after an impressive first Indy NXT oval test
Hailie Deegan's pace in the preseason tests in January and February wasn't up to the mark. In Sebring, she was nearly three seconds off the pace on day 1 before reducing the gap to 1.8 seconds by the end of day 2, still dead last. Her second outing at Laguna Seca wasn't much better.
She finished 14th out of 21 drivers in this season's first race at St. Petersburg. However, the drivers who finished behind were only those who had suffered contact during the race or other technical issues.
At her first oval test in an Indy NXT car at Nashville this month, Deegan found decent pace to finish 15th out of 19 participating drivers, a considerable step up from finishing dead last on the previous three occasions.
"This was my first oval test in the NXT car. It was awesome. It's so much fun. It was a lot to build up to, confidence wise. I knew that today I was gonna have to go out here and be able to hold it wide open to be on pace, and we were able to build up to that," she said in via Indy NXT on YouTube after the test. [0:25 onwards]
Hailie Deegan initially suffered an issue with her helmet sucking excess airflow and 'strangling' her. She felt as if her head would 'rip off'. But once that was solved by her HMD Motorsports squad, it was smooth sailing for the No. 38 driver. The next Indy NXT race of the 2025 season is the Grand Prix of Alabama from May 2nd to 4th.
