“If someone wants to pay for a ride…”: Hailie Deegan makes her honest feelings known on ‘big factor’ impacting NASCAR opportunity

Hailie Deegan has recently opened up about the challenges she is facing in securing rides within NASCAR. Deegan, who parted ways with AM Racing in the mid-2024 Xfinity Series season last year, told Bob Pockrass that she is open to returning to NASCAR if the right opportunity arises, but she also admitted to the financial barriers that make it challenging.

Despite having a multi-year contract with Deegan, AM Racing announced via social media that the organization has parted ways with the California native. Their partnership lasted for 17 Xfinity races only. Afterwards, Deegan announced that she is moving away from NASCAR racing to begin her Indy NXT Series career in 2025.

Speaking to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass during IndyCar media days, Hailie Deegan pointed out how sponsorship dollars have become a big factor for her to secure NASCAR opportunities.

On her NASCAR future, Deegan said:

“I mean, I wouldn’t say my NASCAR days are done. I think if there’s an opportunity, if someone wants to pay for a ride, yeah, I’ll do it. But now it’s too much money for a lot of sponsors to put to the table and that’s something that was kind of a big factor for me. It’s hard to get sponsor money, it’s hard to get to that number of sponsor money. I think on this side of things when the opportunity came up, I just took it.”

Unlike traditional team sports, where salaries are primarily performance-based, motorsports depend heavily on sponsorships to cover the substantial costs of racing, everything from car development to team operations.

2025 will mark the first year since 2018 that Deegan won’t race in stock car racing.

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Hailie Deegan explains her move to Indy NXT Series

The 23-year-old Temecula, California, native is best known for racing in NASCAR stock cars (ARCA Series, Truck Series, and Xfinity Series). Now, she is set to transition to open-wheel racing, joining HMD Motorsports to drive the #38 entry in the 2025 Indy NXT Series season, starting with the season-opener at Streets of St. Petersburg on March 2.

Hailie Deegan is someone who is very much passionate about racing across various disciplines. Explaining her move to open-wheel racing, Deegan, who grew up racing go-karts, said:

“For me when it comes to racing, I like all racing. I grew up go-karting and when the opportunity kind of arose to get in an open-wheel car. I took it, I fell in love with it, and really, I’ve always loved road course racing and I always felt like I had some of my stronger runs on road courses in the past. So, being able to go back to that is really key for me.”

Catch Hailie Deegan in action in a new racing discipline a month after the next on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.