Hailie Deegan qualifies dead last for Indy NXT Grand Prix of Alabama

Hailie Deegan had yet another subpar outing in qualifying for the Indy NXT Grand Prix of Alabama on Saturday, May 3. The HMD Motorsports driver qualified dead last among 20 drivers at the tricky Barber Motorsports Park circuit.

Deegan was in Group 1 of two in qualifying. On the Firestone wet tires in damp conditions, she set a lap time of 1:27.5294 with an average speed of 94.597 mph, which was around 2.5 seconds slower than group leader Caio Collet, her HMD Motorsports teammate.

While Hailie Deegan's intra-group 2.5-second gap to Collet was mammoth, it was less than her previous qualifying performance at St. Petersburg, where she was over 3.3 seconds slower than the group leader, Lochie Hughes.

The lap times for Group 2 at Barber were considerably lower, and speeds were higher as the track dried quickly once the sun came out. All 10 drivers in the group used the soft tires, and leader Dennis Hauger, who won pole position, was over 12 seconds quicker than Collet, the group 1 leader.

But because Indy NXT rules state that the starting grid will be determined by alternating the quickest drivers in the two groups, Collet will start second to Hauger.

Hailie Deegan drives her No. 38 car at Indy NXT's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

For Hailie Deegan, this is the second time in a row starting last in a race. It seems that she has yet to adapt to the open-wheel cars, having made the switch from NASCAR to Indy NXT in 2025. On several counts, the 23-year-old has emphasized how learning is her main goal this season, and not immediate results.

The 23-year-old's first performance at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was decent. Seven of her rivals had contact or other issues in the race, meaning she finished in P14 after starting in P21.

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Hailie Deegan has higher hopes for the Grand Prix of Alabama

Hailie Deegan captured unseen and behind-the-scenes moments from the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in a vlog uploaded on her YouTube channel. In it, she also spoke about her expectations for the second race, the Grand Prix of Alabama.

Because she has raced at the track in stock cars before, Deegan set better expectations for her Indy NXT outing there.

"Obviously, Barber is a place I've been to and I'll have more experience there. I'll be way more comfortable. Right now, I feel like I'm still trying to put everything together, like it hasn't slowed down for me yet. I'm not very smooth, like it just hasn't really flowed all together yet because I haven't had a bunch of seat time here. So it's something that I'm definitely working at trying to get better," she said. [8:30 onwards]

Deegan will start 20th on the grid for the Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, May 4. The 35-lap Indy NXT race will start at 11:30 am ET. That will be followed by the 90-lap IndyCar race at 1:30 pm ET, where Alex Palou starts on pole.