Hailie Deegan makes major announcement about her 2025 full-time ride after NASCAR departure

Hailie Deegan is moving from stock cars to open-wheel racing. She has announced her full-time drive in Indy NXT for the 2025 season.

Deegan is a 23-year-old driver who climbed the ranks in dirt racing and stock car racing series, including the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and LOORRS. Her most recent outing in NASCAR was with AM Racing in the 2024 Xfinity Series season, securing a best finish of P12 at Talladega Superspeedway.

For her upcoming stint in Indy NXT, Deegan will compete with HMD Motorsports. She took to X (formerly Twitter) to make the announcement.

“It’s been hard keeping this one a secret… So excited to announce that I’ll be racing @INDYNXT in 2025 with @HMDMotorsports,” she wrote.

Hailie Deegan will join the Indy NXT grid next year (Source: @HailieDeegan on X)

The California native, who hasn’t competed in open-wheel racing yet, expressed her excitement about debuting in IndyCar’s feeder series in 2025.

“I am excited about the opportunity and look forward to working with a proven program in HMD Motorsports,” Deegan said. “I have much to learn, but I am ready to go. The team brings a wealth of knowledge for me to pull from, and I look forward to soaking up as much of that as possible before my race debut next March in St. Petersburg.”

The three-time LOORRS champion has been working closely with Nathan Toney, former HMD Motorsports engineer and owner of Toney Driver Development, to get herself up to speed for her 2025 rookie season.

Meanwhile, Mike Maurini, president of HMD Motorsports, conveyed his warm welcome to Deegan.

“Hailie, and especially the Deegan name, are huge in motorsports, and we welcome them to the HMD Motorsports family,” Maurini stated, “Hailie has already been out to the shop and is taking the move to open-wheel racing seriously.”

Hailie Deegan is slated to become the fifth driver for the Brownsburg-based outfit, competing alongside Caio Collet, Josh Pierson, Tommy Smith, and Bryce Aron.

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Hailie Deegan returned to Nitrocross after parting ways with AM Racing in the Xfinity Series

Following her NASCAR exit, Hailie Deegan got behind the wheel of the No. 38 car in Nitrocross. This marked her return to dirt racing after the 2021 season, where she had a back-to-back top-5 finish in the two final races in the Side-by-Side (SxS) class.

Here's what she said when questioned regarding her return to dirt racing (via Racer.com):

“Looking forward to racing some UTVs and getting back to the dirt.”

Deegan returned to the series at the Utah Motorsports Campus this month. She competed against drivers such as Travis Pastrana and Mika and Kira Block—the children of the late Ken Block. It was reminiscent of the X Games Rally Car Racing days when Brian Deegan, Hailie’s father, Ken Block, and Travis Pastrana ran alongside each other.

With a full-time Indy NXT seat lined up for 2025, Deegan is set to transition to open-wheel racing. She will participate in the Chris Griffis Memorial Test with HMD Motorsports at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this Friday, October 15.