Hailie Deegan is set to make her NASCAR Xfinity Series début on 15 October for SS-Green Light Racing, driving the #07 Ford Mustang. She revealed the plans on her YouTube channel on Tuesday.
“When it comes to the NASCAR world, when things are about to get announced, it’s usually a lot of rumours about it, it usually gets cold before it’s actually announced, but this is something that we’ve kept a secret pretty well,” said Deegan.
Currently in her second full-time season of Camping World Truck Series competition, Deegan is twenty-first in points with two top tens. Her most recent race at Talladega last Saturday saw her best career finish of sixth. As a rookie, her lone top ten was a seventh at Gateway.
While her performance has only yielded three top tens, she is a popular figure due to her social media presence with over 501 thousand subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million Instagram followers. She won the Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award in 2021. With her marketability, she is often touted as a Ford young prospect with plans of eventually climbing the NASCAR ladder.
Other racing activities in 2022 include two starts in the Superstar Racing Experience and returning to her off-road roots with her maiden Mint 400 start.
“I really just wanted to make my début, for sure on a mile-and-a-half because that’s where I feel most comfortable, but I wanted to get my feet wet in the Xfinity Series,” she continued. “I don’t know yet what I’m going to be doing next year; I wish I knew and had it figured out already, but we’re still working through a few things so no news on that yet. At least for the time being, we’re going for our first Xfinity race in Las Vegas and I could not be more excited.
“I don’t think anyone had any clue that I’d be driving the #07 for SS-Green Light and especially this year, doing Xfinity races this year. […] I didn’t think this day would come so soon. I mean, like, I did and I didn’t, like I was hoping that it would, but I didn’t think it was going to be here already. I’ve been doing a bunch of sim time. I was just trying to be as prepared as possible when it comes to my side and I know the guys at the shop are doing great, so we’re going to take this badass beast to the track.”
The SSGLR #07 has mainly been driven by Joe Graf Jr., though he occasionally steps aside for other drivers like Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, and Brett Moffitt. Custer won in the car at Fontana in February. The #07 is twenty-second in owner points.
