One of the most high-profile NASCAR drivers has revealed plans for the 2022 Camping World Truck Series season. Hailie Deegan will return to David Gilliland Racing for another full-time run.
The Truck Series team announced the news on Wednesday, December 15, with a photo on Twitter. DGR confirmed that Deegan had signed a deal to return while joining an expanded driver lineup that also includes Tanner Gray on a full-time schedule and Taylor Gray on a part-time schedule.
𝓢𝓲𝓰𝓷𝓮𝓭 🖊️
It’s official. @HailieDeegan is back for another full season in @NASCAR_Trucks!
Deegan started all 22 races for DGR during her rookie season in the Truck Series. She posted an average finish of 20.9 and a season-best finish of seventh at World Wide Technology Raceway on August 20. Deegan capped off her year by winning Most Popular Driver in the Truck Series at the annual NASCAR Awards banquet on December 2.
Deegan Will Take On the Full NASCAR Experience
Practice and qualifying will return in 2022 across all three NASCAR national series.
The driver of the No. 1 Ford F-150 took part in all of the races on the Truck Series schedule, but she had to do so essentially without any experience or practice sessions. There were precious few weekends during the 2021 season that featured practice and qualifying, so the drivers had to head to the various tracks and take them on cold. The 2022 season will be a different story as Deegan participates in both qualifying and practice sessions.
NASCAR announced on November 19 the format that all three series will follow during the 2022 season. The drivers will take part in altered practice sessions that feature 20-minute sessions. Though the Bristol dirt and Knoxville Speedway races will have two separate 50-minute practice sessions as the drivers adjust to the dirt tracks.
The added practice sessions, as well as a full season’s worth of experience, will benefit Deegan as she makes her return to DGR. She will have more knowledge about each track on the circuit where she has previously competed, and she will have the opportunity to test out Sonoma Raceway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park before taking them on for the first time.
Deegan’s First Test Will Be Daytona International Speedway
GettyHailie Deegan (right) races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Deegan will kick off her second season with DGR at Daytona International Speedway, the site of the opening race weekend for all three national series. She will join her fellow drivers at the superspeedway on Friday, February 18, and try to surpass her 24th-place finish from 2021.
The sophomore campaign will continue with trips to Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 4), Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 19), and Circuit of the Americas (March 26) among many others. Deegan has prior experience at all three tracks from her rookie campaign, with a 14th-place finish at COTA as her best outing.
If Deegan can outperform her rookie season, she will be set up to potentially make history. She finished 17th in points in 2021, one spot away from tying Jennifer Jo Cobb’s mark for the best points finish by a female driver in the Truck Series. Deegan already made history with her seventh-place finish at WWTR on August 20, and she will have the opportunity to pursue history once again while returning to DGR for the 2022 season.
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Hailie Deegan Sets Her Plans for 2022