NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan seemed to raise a few eyebrows recently when she announced that, in addition to competing full-time in the Truck series, she hopes to be running a number of races in the Xfinity Series in 2022. For some reason, people seemed to jump on the “Too Much Too Soon” train, citing her lack of a single Top 10 in the Truck Series so far this year.
A couple of years ago, Hailie Deegan was on the Dale Jr. Download and she said something that stuck with me and was very profound. In fact, I would say it was the statement that made me a Hailie Deegan fan.
I will paraphrase but she said words to the effect that if she had to stay in a lower series for an extra year in order to extend her Cup career by an extra five, she would do that. To me, more than what she does on the track, that one statement made me realize just how smart – not to mention committed to her racing career – this young driver really is.
Let’s face it – if Deegan wanted to, she could probably take the fast track to a Cup ride within a few years. Look at Danica Patrick. The highly-touted Patrick, expected to bring a female face to the forefront of NASCAR, had a single start in the ARCA series and K&N Pro Series East (both in 2010) and did not start her full-time Xfinity Series career until the same weekend in 2012 that she ran the Daytona 500. While NASCAR immediately went into overtime trying to create Danica-mania, her best season finish during her entire Cup career was a mediocre 24th in 2015. Even Kelley Earnhardt-Miller said, during the same Dale Jr. Download, that she has since wondered if Patrick was pushed to Cup too soon. (Probably one of the biggest understatements in NASCAR history.)
Richard Petty, who just happened to (legitimately) win 200 races, seven championships and seven Daytona 500s, once said that the longest distance in NASCAR is the distance between the Xfinity and the Cup garage. He was alluding to the steep learning curve between the two series. We have seen instances where drivers found success in the Xfinity Series but not in the Cup Series. (Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – who ironically dated Patrick during her NASCAR career – won back-to-back championships in Xfinity but just two Cup wins – both at Super Speedways – on his resume.) And while no one has ever made the same reference to the Trucks and Xfinity, one must imagine there is a similar learning curve.
Deegan understands – and this is to her credit – that you need to be comfortable and have at least some success in one level of NASCAR in order to advance successfully to the next level. After winning several high-profile K&N races, Deegan spent 2020 in the ARCA series, finishing in the Top 10 in 17 of the 20 races ARCA held under a revamped schedule due to COVID-19. She also finished 16th (after starting 32nd) in a start in the Truck Series at Kansas.
Admittedly, at first, I was hoping she’d stay in ARCA in 2021, and do a limited schedule in Trucks, but only to see if she could snag the championship. But to finish in the Top 10 in all but three races (and finishing third in the championship battle, Deegan probably (and rightly) realized she had little more to learn by staying in ARCA.
One can argue that Deegan hasn’t had quite the success in the Camping World Truck Series, with her best finish being 13th twice (Kansas and Charlotte). And so, perhaps Deegan is smart enough to realize that she’ll need another full year in the Truck Series to get the results she’s hoping for.
Again, someone in her situation could have probably taken the results in 2021 as enough practice and enough of an audition for a full-time Xfinity ride. However, Deegan is smart enough to understand that the better results she has in Trucks, the better results she will someday have in Xfinity and, for that matter, the Cup Series.
Don’t get me wrong. I think she’s also doing the right thing by planning to compete in select Xfinity races at the end of the 2022 season. That will give her an opportunity to gauge just how much she has learned from her time in the Truck Series and how much more she needs to know to successfully make the transition to full-time Xfinity competition.
How many races and championships Hailie Deegan will win during her NASCAR career is yet to be determined. But she deserves to have those accolades come her way, because she’s being methodical and smart in her journey towards a Cup career. In a time where instant gratification is often seen as too little, too late, Deegan is showing amazing patience that should pay off in the long run.
johnmilner.ca 