‘Good, clean’ Xfinity Series debut fulfilled for Hailie Deegan

LAS VEGAS — “Hi dad!” Hailie said to her father, Brian, as she embraced him in a hug.
 
When she climbed from the No. 07 Pristine Auction Ford Mustang at the conclusion of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one of the first people to greet Hailie Deegan on pit road was her father, Brian Deegan.

Hailie then did her rounds with TV and radio media, all asking about her 13th-place finish in her NASCAR Xfinity Series debut. Then talked with more reporters about her debut, lead-lap finish at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track.

“It was awesome, it was so much fun, it was just a great experience,” said Deegan to The Racing Experts. “All I wanted out of today was a good, clean race, to be able to make all the laps, and really just take in as much information as I possibly could.”

Deegan started 20th and stayed on the lead lap for most of the 302-mile race. She finished the first stage in 18th and the second stage in 16th. The 21-year-old driver said she started to feel comfortable behind the wheel after the first stage.

“That’s when I started feeling better about it,” Deegan added.

Deegan said her biggest lesson learned from the race included restarts and making moves on the racetrack.

Deegan made the announcement earlier this month she would make her series debut at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track. She has competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series full-time since 2021 for David Gilliland Racing, posting three total Top-10 finishes.

Following the Las Vegas race, Deegan confirmed this was her only planned Xfinity Series race of the season.

“Unless someone runs after me with a couple-hundred grand, no,” Deegan said of more Xfinity Series races in 2022.

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info