"I get to enjoy every single moment of it": Hailie Deegan gets real about her favorite aspect of being a racer

Former NASCAR Truck and Xfinity Series driver Hailie Deegan recently got quizzed by Idahoan Foods as part of a 'Let's get real' interview where she shared what's her favorite part of her job. The 23-year-old took to Instagram and posted the interview clip where she answered several questions about her life from her favorite places to go to, her favorite music to having a superpower.

Hailie Deegan started her NASCAR career in the Craftsman Truck series in 2020, where she competed in one race for the DGR-Crosley team. 2021 was her first full-time Truck season and she impressed the Stock Car racing world with a season-best seventh-place finish. While she didn't make it into the top five in her three full-time seasons in the trucks, she managed two sixth-place finishes in '22 and '23.

She made a step up into the Xfinity Series in 2024 signing with AM Racing for the entire season. However, a string of disappointing results led to her departure from the team mid-season. After assessing her opportunities, Deegan decided to make a switch to open-wheel and signed with HMD Motorsports to compete in the INDYNXT by Firestone Championship for the 2025 season where she will compete alongside another female rookie, Sophia Floersch.

When asked what is her favorite part of her job, the 23-year-old said:

"I think my favorite part is that I get to do what I love on a daily basis and as a career I get to enjoy every single moment of it."

Deegan alsp answered the one skill or talented she always wanted to learn, stating:

"Not one that I wanna learn but the one I wanna get better at is riding a dirt bike."

When asked where would she go if she could travel anywhere in the world right now, Hailie Deegan said that she would go to someplace that is warm and has a beach. When asked if she over or under-decorates for holidays, the 23-year-old said that she under-decorates but would want to overdecorate if not for the lack of time.

When asked what superpower she would want if she could pick one, Deegan gave a rather interesting answer, saying that she would want the power to grow money on trees.

When asked to choose between cars and trucks, she instantly picked trucks saying that she is "just a truck girl". About the music she listens to before a race to hype herself up, she picked 90s rap songs from singers like Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg.

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Hailie Deegan shares the reason for the end of her NASCAR career

Throughout her Truck Series career, Hailie Deegan had always spoken about Xfinity being the series she wanted to race at. Thanks to Ford, she got her dream ride in Xfinity with AM Racing. However, things went downhill by the middle of the season, when Deegan and AM Racing decided to end the partnership. The 23-year-old soon realized that without the backing of Ford, how hard it actually was to get a ride in the National Series.

Speaking about her struggle to acquire the right sponsorship for a new Xfinity ride, Deegan opened up about how drivers who don't have deep pockets don't stand a chance to get a ride without a sponsorship. And finding sponsorship in the second tier of NASCAR is already a difficult thing.

"I’m not actively trying to look for a ride or anything, but if a couple of million dollars falls in my lap, awesome. 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," Hailie Deegan was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Hailie Deegan is set to make her debut in INDYNXT, the developmental series for IndyCar as the new season kicks off on March 2, with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.