Hailie Deegan Moving on From NASCAR to Race Indy NXT in 2025
Hailie Deegan, the 23-year-old daughter of action sports star Brian Deegan, will officially change racing disciplines in 2025 after four full-time seasons in the NASCAR National Series ranks with minimal success.
Deegan will move to the Indy NXT Series next season, which is the premier feeder series for developmental talent in the IndyCar Series ranks. Deegan will pilot the No. 38 entry for HMD Motorsports. The news of Deegan officially committing to move to the Indy NXT Series in 2025 was first reported by Joey Barnes of Motorsport.com.
In the Motorsport.com story, Deegan is quoted as saying that she's aware of the challenges that she'll encounter switching to open-wheel racing, but that she's ready for the challenge.
“I have much to learn, but I am ready to go," Deegan said. "The team brings a wealth of knowledge for me to pull from, and I look forward to soaking up as much of that as possible before my race debut next March in St. Petersburg.”
HMD Motorsports is a team owned by Henry Malukas, which was formed in 2019. The team will field five entries next season as Deegan will be teammates with Caio Collet, Josh Pieson, Tommy Smith, and Bryce Aron.
Deegan joined AM Racing ahead of the 2024 season, which would serve as her rookie campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the results were lackluster to say the least. Deegan's tenure with the team featured three DNFs by way of crashing, but overall the No. 15 team lacked overall speed as well. Deegan lasted 17 races with the organization before she was ousted for a rotating cast of drivers, which, for the most part, didn't fare much better than Deegan did.
Prior to the move to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024, Deegan suffered through three rough seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ranks with TRICON Garage (then called DGR) in 2021, and ThorSport Racing in 2022 and 2023. In 69 starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Deegan only notched five top-10 finishes, and her best points ranking was 17th, which she achieved in her rookie campaign.
The California native opened eyes in the stock car racing world as she climbed the ladder through the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Division, which is now known as the ARCA Menards Series West. Deegan became the first-ever female competitor to reach victory lane in a NASCAR-sanctioned series as she amassed three wins in the West Series between 2018 and 2019, and finished third in the championship standings in 2019.
Deegan would run the ARCA Menards Series full-time in 2020, a season where she would rack up four top-five finishes, and 17 top-10s in 20 starts on her path to a third-place rank in the final championship standings.
Unfortunately, Deegan just couldn't find traction in the NASCAR National Series ranks, and now she'll attempt to refocus her racing efforts in the open wheel world.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.