Photo: Ford
This past Saturday, Ford Performance Developmental Driver Hailie Deegan made her NASCAR Truck Series debut. With a best-ever finish for a woman in her first race, Saturday’s performance will be far from the last time Deegan will climb behind the wheel of a Ford F-150 on the track. Ford announced this week that the racing phenom will join the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2021.
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Deegan signed as a Ford Performance Development Driver in 2019 and quickly made history with a runner-up finish at Daytona. In her past 20 races in the ARCA Menards Series, she’s earned 17 top-10 finishes and four top-five finishes. This earned her the title of 2020 ARCA Menards Series Bounty Rookie of the Year as well as a third-place finish in the championship standings.
On Saturday, Deegan — driving the DGR-Crosley No. 17 Ford F-150 — took 16th place at the Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway. She worked her way as high as fifth place before having to pit for fuel and ultimately came away with the highest finish position for a woman making her Truck Series debut.
DGR-Crosley co-owner David Gilliland said after the race that he’s enjoyed watching Hailie’s progress in the ARCA Menards Series and looks forward to prepping for the 2021 season.
Watch: Hailie Deegan promoted to NASCAR Truck Series
“I have raced trucks in the off-road world but to now have the opportunity to race trucks next season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a dream come true,” said Deegan. “I have some great partners already behind me for next season. We have a few primaries still available and I hope that we can fill these up in the coming weeks. I can’t wait for Daytona 2021 to get here.”
Daytona is right around the corner with the start of the 2021 season kicking off on Feb. 12, 2021.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.