WATCH: Hailie Deegan suffers tricky moment during Indy NXT race at Barber

Hailie Deegan endured another challenging outing during the Indy NXT Children’s Grand Prix of Alabama event. The 23-year-old suffered a tricky moment during the race.

The HMD Motorsports star, who had endured a difficult weekend leading up to the main race, was hopeful for a reprieve and a largely clean race during the Grand Prix. However, things would not pan out as she had imagined. The former NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, currently competing in her rookie season in IndyCar, was pushing through the undulating Barber Motorsports track when she suffered a slide going into Turn One of the circuit.

As seen in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by IndyCar on FOX, Hailie Deegan momentarily lost control of her #83 HMD Motorsports car before skillfully recovering and rejoining the race. Although the awry moment cost her some time and track position, the California-born driver avoided major damage to her car and continued racing.

The race at the Children’s Grand Prix of Alabama was another Hailie Deegan will be hoping to forget in a hurry. The rookie, who had hoped for a better outing compared to her performance at the season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix, qualified last and could only move up three places to finish her Grand Prix in 17th.

While Hailie Deegan had an outing to forget, the same could not be said for fellow rookie Dennis Hauger. The Andretti Autosport driver made it consecutive race victories in his debut season with another stunning drive at the Barber event.

What Hailie Deegan said in the lead-up to the Indy NXT race at Barber

Hailie Deegan during the Indy NXT Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Hailie Deegan previously shared her thoughts in the lead-up to the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix race. The 23-year-old is currently the sole female on the Indy NXT grid following the withdrawal of Sophia Flörsch.

The former stock car racing driver was hopeful for a positive outing at the race following her disappointing qualifying. Sharing her thoughts before the race with media outlet FrontStretch Open Wheel, she stated:

“I think pretty good, I think there were a few major things that if I clean up are worth big chunks of time. A lot of the high-speed stuff is where I was struggling to be in the test and I'd say I cleaned up about half of them from the test.” (2:43 onwards)

“So I feel like we have 50% more to go, and there's like a few places that I can knock off a good chunk of time there, and I know exactly what to do now; haven't been able to apply since we've been on rain tires. I think we'll be able to do better,” she concluded.

Hailie Deegan’s race sadly did not pan out as she would have hoped, as she could only finish 17th after starting at the end of the grid. The result was worse than her 14th-place finish at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix of California.

With the Alabama round behind her, Deegan will aim for a stronger outing as Indy NXT heads to the next race on the calendar — the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motorsports Road Course.