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Hailie Deegan is in the middle of her NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season.
She scored a career-best finish of 12th in the April 20 Talladega race but moments after taking the checkered flag, the 22-year-old and her crew were not happy due to a move made by fellow Ford driver Riley Herbst on the final lap in double overtime when, instead of pushing and helping the No. 15 car, he went around and ended up finishing second.
“I don’t know why the 98 did that at all,” Deegan’s spotter said over the team radio. “That was a really bad move. Good job all day. We capitalized like we needed to.”
“10-4,” she replied, before pausing. “(Expletive),” the driver said, voicing her frustration.
“He wasn’t ever going to stay with us,” the spotter assured her. “That’s his MO. P12. Good job all day.”
“Are you (expletive) kidding me? 12th?” Deegan said in disbelief. A few minutes later, she addressed Herbst’s move. “I can’t believe the 98 did that.”
“I can,” another member of her team said. “He does it every time. It don’t matter who it is. He does it to everybody. Every time he will not help anybody out. He’s all about himself.”
Hailie Deegan Denied Chance at Possible Top-5 Result or Win
While it’s easy to think Hailie Deegan should be content with her career-best Xfinity finish, what the No. 15 team and her fans thought going into the start of that second overtime is she had a legitimate chance for a top-5 finish or even a win.
She started on the outside of the second row. On that first trip around the 2.66-mile superspeedway, the No. 98 moved forward and got in position behind one of the few Fords driven by Deegan. Ryan Blaney, who was in the Fox booth, noted the possible pairing of Blue Ovals on the broadcast.
“Riley Herbst making his way up through the field,” the 2023 Cup champion pointed out. “He’s getting lined up with that Mustang of Hailie here. They might have a big run coming to the 2 if they can get connected.”
They never got connected. As the cars crossed the start-finish line to take the white flag, the No. 15 ran fifth but was the first car on the outside lane with the No. 98 right behind.
Moments later, Herbst moved up to the top of the track, making it three-wide with Deegan in the middle. Over the next couple of miles, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver continued marching forward while the rookie slipped back.
Deegan Can Build Off Result
Hailie Deegan and her crew were justifiably upset with Herbst for his late-race move and how it dramatically affected their final result. However, from a 30,000-foot view, the No. 15 team can take the Dega result and the 18th-place finish at the April 6 Martinsville race and see that the young driver is starting to trend in the right direction.
Momentum is a real thing in racing and after starting the 2024 campaign with a pair of DNFs in the first four races, Deegan has scored four finishes of 23rd or better in the last five events.
She can take the result at Talladega, where she also earned a couple of top-10 finishes in the Trucks, and try to build off of it in the coming weeks.
If she continues to get solid results, she might just be able to look back at that superspeedway race as the turning point of her season and how that finish wasn’t what she wanted but what she needed and it motivated her to improved performance the remainder of her rookie year.
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