Hailie Deegan has 'advanced significantly' both on and off the track, claims Ford director after her Truck Series team change

Hailie Deegan recently joined ThorSport Racing for another full-time ride in the 2023 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. She will drive the #13 Ford F-150 for the organization next season.

The Championship-winning team added the 21-year-old to its driver lineup on December 15, 2022 when they announced a manufacturer switch from Toyota to Ford.

Deegan will be competing in the Truck Series for the third consecutive season. She finished with a career-best sixth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in 2022 and was named Truck Series’ Most Popular Driver Award for the second year in a row.

Mark Rushbrook, the global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, said in a recent interview that he has seen growth in Deegan’s performances over the past two seasons. He feels that Deegan has advanced significantly both on and off the track.

Rushbrook said:

“We love watching the development drivers progress and advance on the track and off the track, and watching that maturity of Hailie in terms of how she evaluates a car or a truck on the racetrack, can break it down and articulate it back to her crew chief and team to set the direction the car needs to go. I think (she) has advanced significantly both on the track and when she’s working in the simulator with the team, as well.”

He continued:

"I think this is the next opportunity with a team that’s going to be around her, the people that are going to be around her to give her that opportunity to go one more level.”

Hailie Deegan was announced by Ford Performance in December 2019 as part of their driver development program and raced in a variety of disciplines in 2020, including the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and the ARCA Menards Series. She finished third in the points table and won the Rookie of the Year Award.

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“I’ve been used to pressure my whole life” - Hailie Deegan

Since her introduction to NASCAR as the "next big thing," Hailie Deegan hasn't enjoyed the kind of success most fans envisioned she would.

Speaking about the space to learn and improve during a media conference two weeks ago, Deegan said:

"I’ve been used to pressure my whole life. It’s kind of been on me from the start, so at the end of the day there’s pressure for a reason, and I feel like if you can’t deal with the pressure, then you probably shouldn’t have that pressure on you.”

Hailie Deegan will look to improve her performances and results in the 2023 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.