How did Hailie Deegan start racing? All you need to know

Hailie Deegan is a stock car racing driver who will be racing in the Indy NXT series for the 2025 season. HMD Motorsports announced the signing of the stock car driver on October 14, 2024, for their Indy NXT team. The 23-year-old has been racing on the asphalt for close to a decade now but began her professional career in dirt racing.

Deegan is the daughter of the Motocross legend Brian Deegan, who is a 16-time medalist in the X Games. Brian transitioned from Motocross to Rallycross in 2011 and raced in the series for six years with 2016 being his last appearance in the Global RallyCross Championship.

NASCAR Xfinity Series SciAps 200 - Practice - Source: Getty

Hailie Deegan followed in the footsteps of her father and began racing dirt bikes at the age of seven. Within a year of racing dirt bikes, she jumped behind the wheel of a Trophy kart and at the age of eight, won her first race in the SXS Stadium Series' Trophy Kart class.

Deegan moved to race in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) junior karts in the early 2010s and in 2013, became the first female to win a LOORRS championship. In the late 2010s, she raced in the modified karts and pro lite series.

After becoming the Lucas Oil Off Road Driver of the Year in 2016, Deegan decided to make her Asphalt debut and drove legendary cars for Rev Racing. She moved to race in the CARS Super Late Model Tour stock car championship in 2017 and made her NASCAR debut in 2018.

Hailie Deegan raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and ARCA Menards in the late 2010s before making her Xfinity debut in 2022, and Craftsman Truck series debut in 2023.

Hailie Deegan prepares for her Indy NXT debut in the Formula Regional Americas Championship Car

Hailie Deegan made her open-wheel racing debut in 2024 as she raced the FR Car for the Toney Development Driver team in the Formula Regional Americas Championship. Despite the off-season being underway, she wanted to get more experience in open-wheel racing cars and took to the Sebring International Raceway to practice in the FR Car.

Deegan uploaded a video about the same on her YouTube channel and suggested that she would be pushing and finding the limits of the car during the test session. She said:

“So we did some laps yesterday. I felt like I got up to speed pretty good, learned the track, which was my goal for this test. But now, since I have a whole another day, I really want to focus on pushing myself more.

“Really like pushing and finding that limit, getting my roll speed up in the center of the corner. I feel like my entries are fine. I drive into the right spot in the corner, but I really need to work on just rolling the center.”

Hailie Deegan is sponsored by the energy drink company Monster Energy and will be driving the No. 38 HMS Motorsport entry for the 2025 Indy NXT season.