"It sometimes doesn't make any difference": When Hailie Deegan acknowledged money can outweigh hard work in NASCAR

Former NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan invited the Associated Press to her North Carolina home following the stalker saga in 2022. Deegan had reflected on her stock car career up until that point as she acknowledged how the money brought in by a driver could outweigh the hard work of another.

Hailie Deegan, daughter of Motocross legend Brian Deegan followed in her father's footsteps and began racing on dirt in the LOORRS before switching to racing on the tarmac. Deegan participated in multiple stock car racing series throughout her late teens.

NASCAR Xfinity Series BetRivers 200 - Qualifying - Source: Getty

In the early 2020s, Hailie Deegan raced in the NASCAR Camping Truck series. However, she wasn't as successful in the series as the junior stock car series she previously raced in, i.e. NASCAR K&N series. The 23-year-old came out at the end of the 2022 racing season and expressed how money outweighs hard work in racing series as she said, (via AP News):

“Nowadays is so hard in racing, no matter how good you are, what you do, there’s always going to be someone with more money at their fingertips, waiting to buy a better seat. And dammit, no matter how hard you work, it sometimes doesn’t make any difference because there’s somebody who has more money.”

Hailie Deegan then reflected on her subpar performance in the truck series as she added:

“I know mistakes are made, especially at the Truck Series level, but I get really, really mad about it. Because I know how hard we worked for that money. And when I am having a good day and running well and get wrecked, I know what that means in the sponsors’ eyes.”

Deegan moved to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series for the 2023 season but didn't fair well and had to sit out the 2024 season, before making a part-time appearance for the Toney Development Driver team in the Formula Regional Americas Championship’s last two races.

Hailie Deegan now races in the Indy NXT series as she decided to make the switch from stock cars to open-wheel racing.

Hailie Deegan expects to perform better at the Barber Motorsport Park

Hailie Deegan struggled on her Indy NXT debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. The Monster Energy-sponsored athlete was multiple seconds off the pace of the leaders in the practice session and made crucial mistakes in the qualifying which put her dead last on the starting grid.

Deegan uploaded a video on her YouTube channel 'Hailie Deegan' and suggested that she'd perform better at the next Indy NXT race at the Barber Motorsport Park since she's driven the track previously. She said,

“Obviously Barber is a place I've been to and I'll have more experience there. I'll be way more comfortable. Right now I feel like I'm still trying to put everything together, like it hasn't slowed down for me yet. I'm not very smooth like it just hasn't really like flowed all together yet just because I haven't had a bunch of seat time here so it's something that I'm definitely working at trying to get better.” (8:50 onwards)

Deegan finished the race in P14 as she was out in a good drive for a debutant. She was only a second or so behind the pace of the leaders, and would only improve as the weekend progresses. Her teammate Sophia Floersch finished P12.