"I'm dying in pain": Hailie Deegan on Indy NXT's extreme physicality that she didn't face in NASCAR

Hailie Deegan has shared her raw feelings about the physicality involved in racing in Indy NXT, the junior series to IndyCar. The 24-year-old shifted to open-wheel racing this year after bidding goodbye to NASCAR in 2024.

Deegan began her professional racing career in 2018, driving for Bill McAnally Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, which became the ARCA Menards Series. Over the next few years, she expanded her career by competing in the NASCAR Truck Series, the SRX series, and eventually landed a NASCAR Xfinity drive with AM Racing in 2024.

Unfortunately, the team abruptly parted ways with her at the midpoint of the season, effectively leaving her with no major racing commitments for the rest of the year. Hailie Deegan considered a switch to open-wheel racing with a couple of races in the Formula Regionals, then tested with HMD Motorsports for an Indy NXT seat for 2025, before securing a contract.

However, she has had a tough time trying to match her rivals because she lacks the sheer physicality needed to pilot Indy NXT's open-wheel cars, which also lack power steering. In a recent appearance on the Off Track with Hinch and Rossi podcast co-hosted by IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi, Deegan spoke about the extreme physicality required on road circuits. She said:

"Obviously, the road courses are very hard. Barber (the track that hosts the Grand Prix of Alabama, where Deegan had a P17 result) was bad for me. Like physically, okay, I'm not that far off when we get to practice or qualifying. Whatever it is, I'll be okay, not bad. But like the longevity for me, I'm dying."

"Like after practice, for the second practice, I'm back at the Airbnb with my hands in an iced bowl of water, just trying to get some sort of strength back because I was just like dying in pain and so... from just being sore. So I think tracks like those were hard," she added.

Earlier this year, after getting a taste of the Indy NXT cars, Hailie Deegan found NASCAR to be "one of the most unphysical forms of racing".

Why Hailie Deegan's Indy NXT struggles go beyond the physicality challenge

Hailie Deegan at the IndyCar Grand Prix of Monterey - Source: Getty

Hailie Deegan has had a subpar rookie season in Indy NXT so far. The American driver has qualified and finished dead last in most races. With two races left in the season, the ovals of Milwaukee and Nashville, she is also dead last in the championship standings among full-time drivers.

What has not helped her is her relative inexperience in driving on road or street circuits. The NASCAR Xfinity schedule mostly comprises oval races. This has kept Deegan from going 100% during Indy NXT races and falling considerably behind the pack.

While a lack of the required physical fitness might have prevented her from going full throttle, her choice to avoid forcing crashes has also contributed somewhat to the lack of pace. Hailie Deegan's focus for her rookie season was on learning instead of trying to force progress and cost HMD Motorsports big sums of money in crash damages.