Hailie Deegan has to perform on the race track, not on YouTube or social media, says NASCAR crew chief

Last week, Hailie Deegan announced that she has moved to ThorSport Racing to drive the #13 Ford F-150 in the 2023 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. She was understandably excited to join her new ride and will be hoping for a change in luck.

Following the move, NASCAR crew chief and racing analyst Larry McReynolds spoke about Deegan’s upcoming season and what fans might expect from her during his On Track show on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The two-time Daytona 500 winning crew chief said Hailie Deegan performing in NASCAR is beneficial for everyone. He also said that her YouTube and social media followers don’t matter, and that she has to start performing on the race track.

McReynolds said:

“I say this with the utmost respect because it’s beneficial for everybody involved for Hailie Deegan to perform. She is a female. She is a minority, driving a NASCAR Camping World, or what’s now Craftsman Truck Series truck. It’s so beneficial that she performs.”

He continued:

“She has got to step it up. Because I even go back to last year at David Gilliland Racing. That 17 truck was running up front hands over fist. Winning races. To me, a third season, the rubber’s meeting the road. I don’t care how many YouTube followers you have or social media. That’s all grand. That’s all great. Gonna have to start performing on that thing called a race track.”

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“This is a year where the rubber’s going to meet the road” - Larry McReynolds on Hailie Deegan

Hailie Deegan showed potential in her first Camping World Truck Series season in 2020, competing in a one-off race at Kansas Speedway and crossing the finish line in 16th place.

The 21-year-old gave a mediocre performance in her first two Truck seasons. Based on her stats, the 2021 season proved to be better than the 2022 season. Her average starting position has dropped from 18.0 to 20.0 and her finishing position has dropped from 20.9 to 22.1. The most worrying metric, however, is that she had three DNFs in 2021 compared to seven in the 2022 season.

Talking about her recent performances, McReynolds said:

“But to me, this is a year where the rubber’s going to meet the road. She has basically 46 starts. She ran 22 races in ’21, 23 races in ’22, and has three top-10 finishes. A best finish of 6th at Talladega this past fall.”