In 2023, Hailie Deegan joined ThorSport Racing as the driver of the number 13 Ford F-150 truck. When she left her previous team, David Gilliland Racing, and joined a team that everybody knows for winning races and putting their drivers in the playoffs, fans, along with Deegan herself, expected a boom in her career. To top it off, her new team set her up with veteran crew chief Rich Lushes, who had guided Ben Rhodes to win the 2021 Truck Series title.

Unfortunately, a pair of DNFs at Daytona and Las Vegas ruined Hailie Deegan’s start to the current season. Most recently, with a 17th-place finish at the UNOH 200, she sits at rank 19 in the driver standings. All things considered, Ford awaits Hailie Deegan to make a quick decision regarding a probable change in career path.

Hailie Deegan is hanging on in a precarious situation while a younger driver will live her dream

According to FOX Sports, “Hailie Deegan has spent the last three years racing in trucks, so Ford has a decision to make on whether to move her to the Xfinity Series. Although she has struggled in the? trucks?she’ 19th in the standings this? year?i she is going to make the move, she would need to do it sooner than later.”

Indeed, this season has not been a smooth ride for the 22-year-old speedster. Her earlier statistics included three 20th-place finishes at Martinsville, Darlington, and North Wilkesboro. Amidst all her Xfinity plans, a 19-year-old driver is already living her dreams of driving an Xfinity Series car, while she still lags behind.

Daniel Dye, driving the number 43 Chevrolet Silverado for GMS Racing in the Truck Series, expects to make his Xfinity Series debut with Alpha Prime Racing next week. Daniel will drive at three Xfinity races in all, the other two being at Las Vegas and Phoenix at the end of this year.

The Daytona native exclaimed, “I’m really looking forward to making my Xfinity debut with Tommy Joe Martins and everyone at Alpha Prime,”

“It’s a great opportunity to compete at the next level and get a feel for what the Xfinity car is like before hopefully getting more opportunities in the future,” he added gleefully.

Daniel Dye will move forward in his Xfinity endeavor with Champion Container as his primary sponsor. His #44 Chevrolet Camaro will flaunt a vibrant red, yellow, and white color scheme with an unmistakable ‘Race to Stop Suicide’ slogan. His secondary sponsors include ONE DAYTONA, B&L Construction, DME Academy, and Kevtron Media.

Watch this story: Fans Bash NASCAR Driver for Calling Hailie Deegan ?Talentless? Despite Her Remorse

However, one might wonder, why can’t Hailie Deegan proceed as seamlessly as Daniel in the NASCAR top-tier series? Sadly, Hailie Deegan lacks that one thing that Daniel Dye has in abundance.

The sole obstacle that stands in Hailie’s way of driving in the Xfinity Series

It is true that Hailie Deegan is the daughter of the famous motocross rider, Brian Deegan. However, her family is not very famous in the arena of NASCAR. To this day, Deegan has driven in just one Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas last year, where she finished P13. In an episode of Rubbin’ is Racing, Hailie Deegan sheds light on what is stopping her from making another Xfinity appearance.

“It?s all just the financial side,” said Deegan, “I would love to go to Xfinity and would love to run full-time next year, but it?s just the financial side. And you go from these Truck Racing budgets of having to raise enough money for that sponsorship for that, and then you go to Xfinity, which is about double or if not more.”

The surge in budget when a driver transitions from the Truck Series to Xfinity shocked co-host Spider. To be brutally honest, Hailie Deegan explained that in order to run for a good truck team, it takes around $2 million a year. However, this amount just doubles as the driver moves up to the Xfinity Series.

Hailie Deegan admitted, “… to run for A-level Xfinity, you are looking at 4-5 million dollars. That?s just the cold heart truth of it.”

Read more: Hailie Deegan Dealt With Another Blow Amid Slipping Xfinity Dreams

She even spoke about how Team Penske driver Joey Logano had to pay for driving in a Truck Series race, despite being a well-established, full-time Cup Series driver. We can just hope that Hailie Deegan is able to raise the funds needed for her Xfinity ride, as the wastage of talent is just so pitiful.