One might not expect this Saturday’s Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas to be considered an important race. It’s ranking of importance even to NASCAR in 2020 has to be way down the list to the Daytona 500, the first race back after COVID, or the Cup Series season final at Phoenix,
It’s importance might be slightly greater to whoever wins the race and advances to the Final 4 for the Trucke Series championship. However, in years to come, one might look back and see that no small impact might come out of this race.
This is the race which will see 19-year-old Hailie Deegan make her series debut. Whether she finishes first or twenty-first won’t be all that important. She will not be racing for a championship or even the win. Instead, Deegan will be making her first laps in the next stage of a career that could have positive ramifications on NASCAR as a whole.
Deegan has yet to make a single start in one of NASCAR’s national series but she’s already on the radar of many analysts, media, and fans. When she won her first of several races in the former K&N series in spectacular and, dare I say, Earnhardt-like fashion, it marked perhaps the first time most NASCAR broadcasts and media outlets even recognized the series existed.
Moving to ARCA, she started the 2020 season off in impressive fashion with a second place finish at Daytona that gained her more headline than race winner Michael Self. (She shouldn’t be faulted for having run second for approximately the final 15-20 laps. Most of the field seemed content to play follow the leader to the checkers.) Her finish at Daytona wasn’t a fluke. Deegan has only failed to finish in the Top 10 in three of the nineteen ARCA races this season, and stands third in the standings.
What should impress the casual viewer, above and beyond her on-track results, is the passion and patience she has shown. For a member of a generation too often unfairly criticized for their perceived lack of patience (yeah, cause us older generations have soooo much patience), Deegan seems content to play the long game, stating she would rather stay at a lower level for an extra year if such a move would add an additional five years to her Cup career. She’s not afraid to play the long game for success.
Let’s be honest. Given the current climate, Deegan could (with NASCAR’s help for sure) probably bypass Trucks, snag an Xfinity ride for next year and be in a Cup car in time for the 2022 Daytona 500. However, that rapid upward career movement would come at a price and while I’m sure NASCAR’s marketing department would be okay with having a young, talented female driver with an obvious love of the sport to work with, all the marketing in the world can’t duplicate what can be learned on track. Deegan has, however, shown a willingness to take the time to learn what she needs to be a success.
To be perfectly honest, I don’t think Hailey Deegan will be the next big thing but I have to add the word “YET” after that. I think the current Cup rookie crop of Reddick, Custer, and Bell and the current “Big Two” in Xfinity of Briscoe and Cindric will battle over that particular title. However, I think by mid-decade, Deegan will be in a position to be lauded as “the next big thing in NASCAR.”
Not to make gender an issue but the fact that she is a woman at a time when NASCAR is making great strides to become more inclusive can’t hurt Deegan. At the same time, she has stated she doesn’t want to be the best female driver, she wants to be the best driver. While I can opine that Deegan will not be the next big thing (YET!) I would also suggest she will not be the next Danica Patrick…and that is a good thing.
When I praise Deegan for her patience, it is because I am remembering Patrick’s foray into NASCAR. Richard Petty once said that the longest distance in sports is the distance between the Xfinity garage to the Cup garage, speaking to the immense learning curve between the two series. Danica Patrick didn’t just try to make the jump from open-wheel to stock car racing, she then attempted to jump to Cup without the proper time spent in Xfinity.
While NASCAR continued to market her as being on par with the Kevin Harvicks and Jeff Gordons of the day with hopes of growing their female audience, the fans quickly realized that Patrick was more likely to finish in the mid-20s, a lap down, than to even finish in the Top 10, much less win or contend for a championship. While being marketable may help bring in sponsorships, it’s going to take success on the track to keep those sponsorships, earn fans, wins and championships.
While Deegan will certainly be marketable, especially to younger and female demographics, the full success of her career will be dependent on her on-track results.
It appears she’ll make some starts in the Gander RV & Outdoor Truck series in 2021 while remaining full-time in ARCA, content to wait until she knows she can contend for wins and good finishes in ARCA before advancing.
But her first taste of the NASCAR national series she could someday win a championship in will come this Saturday. If you care about the future of NASCAR, you should tune in to see what that future might look like. Hailie Deegan will be driving the #17 Ford for DGR-Crosley.
johnmilner.ca 