Hailie Deegan gets nostalgic after featuring on FOX for special segment with her family
Indy NXT driver Hailie Deegan recently appeared on a segment of FOX News' morning show, 'Fox and Friends, with her brother Haiden and dad Brian Deegan. She uploaded behind-the-scenes footage from the show and snippets from her NYC trip in a recent VLOG on YouTube.
Deegan shared the experience from her first time appearing on FOX, which became IndyCar's official broadcasting partner for 2025 and beyond. The 23-year-old racer was surprised by how 'quickly' the entire shoot took place, with the guests not knowing the questions they'd have to answer.
The segment was under five minutes long, with X-Games legend Brian Deegan sharing how he passed down the speed bug to his children. This was followed by Hailie Deegan talking about the experience of being a female racer in Indy NXT and Haiden sharing his motocross experiences.
On her YT Vlog, Deegan shared how nostalgic she felt appearing on FOX News because that is what she watched at her grandparents' house as a child when her dad went racing.
"It was definitely a cool experience. Never got to be on FOX News. That's super cool because every morning when I stayed the night at my grandparents' house... because a lot of times when my dad was racing, I would be at my grandparents' house staying there. And FOX News was on before the sun was even up in the morning. So I definitely feel super nostalgic, super cool moment for me, happy to be a part of it," she said. [4:06 onwards]
Hailie Deegan is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Craftsman Truck Series, ARCA Menards, and the Xfinity Series before jumping ship to open-wheel racing in 2025. She drives for HMD Motorsports in the Indy NXT championship, the topmost rung of IndyCar's junior ladder.
Hailie Deegan hopes to inspire the next generation of female racers with Indy NXT efforts
Hailie Deegan is the only female driver in the 2025 class of Indy NXT, with her teammate Sophia Floersch having parted ways with HMD Motorsports after the first race of the season at St. Petersburg. Deegan spoke about representing women in the male-dominated world of racing on the 'Fox and Friends' segment.
"Oh man, it's definitely wild. There's not many girls up there, so (I'm) trying to represent the females in the sport and showing other girls it's possible because there isn't many of them in racing," she said. "Very far and dew opportunities. It's definitely super hard, super physical, and so it's definitely a challenge, but I love it."
Deegan has yet to get fully in tune with Indy NXT's open-wheel cars. She was considerably off the pace during the preseason tests in Sebring and Laguna Seca and was the slowest driver at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg among those who didn't suffer contact or technical issues.
However, at the most recent test at Nashville, Hailie Deegan's first time in an Indy NXT car on an oval, she showed decent improvement to finish 15th out of 19 drivers.