"I love road courses": Hailie Deegan elaborates on her Indy NXT switch after NASCAR exit
Hailie Deegan recently spoke about her switch from NASCAR to the Indy NXT Series. The former Xfinity Series driver found herself without a ride after AM Racing and her mutually parted ways mid-season earlier this year.
This left Deegan's racing career in a limbo until it was announced earlier this month that she would be making the switch from stock cars to single-seaters for 2025. Deegan would run the HMD Motorsports' #38 entry alongside Caio Collet, Josh Pierson, Tommy Smith, and Bryce Aron.
Speaking about her mindset behind making the switch to Indy, Hailie Deegan recently remarked that a couple of weeks after her Xfinity announcement was out, she chose not to linger too much on that.
"I was like, ‘OK, what’s next?’ What are we working towards next? Let’s make our goals. What are we looking like budget wise and what are we looking sponsor budget wise? How are we looking for different options? Just kind of seeing and weighing out the pros and cons of everything. And that’s when I was like, ‘You know what, I feel like I’m decent friends with a few guys in the IndyCar scene and people I used to race in IndyCar,'" she described.
She revealed that initially she was just 'poking around', and as she started going to the IndyCar races, talks began where she was being weighed in as a driver, her pros and cons and everything around that.
Hailie Deegan further opened up on her preference for the kind of racing that is more prevalent in IndyCar compared to NASCAR as she said:
"I like high grip stuff. I like places, tracks here are wide open a lot. I love road courses. Besides this past year, some of my best runs have been on road courses and best overall. Best qualifying and all that. The IMSA stuff on top of that, I did good on that side. So, I was like, ‘Man, maybe we should really look at this avenue.'" [0:56 onwards]
Kevin Harvick happy Hailie Deegan found an opportunity to race after her NASCAR exit
During a recent episode of his podcast show, Kevin Harvick voiced his thoughts on the next step in Hailie Deegan's racing career. The former NASCAR driver claimed that the switch from stock cars to single-seaters would be 'a tough transition' for the young Deegan.
Having said that, Harvick expressed his happiness for Hailie Deegan finally finding an opportunity to race following her NASCAR exit.
"I'm glad that she's hopefully happy and being able to race and do something that she's enjoying," he said.
The former SHR driver further touched on the turning point in her NASCAR journey, her stepping out of the Toyota program. In Kevin Harvick's opinion, Hailie Deegan was in 'a great position to be successful' with Toyota but as soon as she got out, things spiralled out of control in the wrong direction.
Despite that, Harvick hoped Deegan would find a fresh restart in the Indy NXT Series.