Can Female NASCAR Driver Hailie Deegan’s Prior Experience at Daytona Give Her an Edge?
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NASCAR and ARCA Menards Series’ young prospect Hailie Deegan will have an advantage over the rest of the field on Friday. While many drivers will be competing at the Daytona road course for the first time this weekend, Deegan knows what it’s like to race there. She had first-hand experience at the course early this year when she took part in several days of IMSA testing as a Ford development driver. Deegan also competed in a Michelin Pilot Challenge race there, driving a GT4 Mustang.
Unexpected advantage for Hailie Deegan
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The upcoming NASCAR weekend at Daytona was not part of anyone’s plans at the start of the year. Although as things stand, Deegan will certainly aim to convert her advantage into a win.
“I’m pretty excited because this was not one of the races we had planned on our schedule,” Deegan told NBC Sports in an interview. “At the beginning of the year I saw all the races, obviously to see which ones you’re looking forward to, like your favorites and stuff and obviously this on wasn’t on there.”
Deegan prefers road courses
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The 19-year-old said that she prefers racing on road courses and believes it is her strong suit. “I like road courses. I raced at Sonoma about twice (in ARCA Menards West). I was decent there, I qualified on the pole one of the times (2019) there against a lot of good drivers. It was a confirmation that ‘Ok, we’re decent at road courses’,” Deegan said. “I would not say I’m perfect at road courses. But I feel that’s one of my stronger suits,” she added.
NASCAR Stock car racing – a new world for Deegan
The DGR-Crosley driver said that the stock car world is still ‘a foreign concept’ for her. “I’m trying to learn this whole stock car world. Circle track, everything like that, that’s all been a foreign concept.
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“So everything I’m learning, I’m learning for the first time,” Deegan admitted. “But when we go back to road courses, I grew up in go-karting, I grew up racing off-road trucks on courses where you turn right and left,” she added.
Deegan believes that she has that advantage over the others, with all those days of practice at Daytona. “I have so many days of practice from the beginning of the year on that track. Obviously, it’s a different car, a GT4 Mustang. It’s easy to drive, but hard to be fast in an IMSA car,” Deegan said. “(While) the stock cars are harder to drive, but you have that experience, I feel like you can have a little bit of an advantage over people,” she continued.
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In the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February, Deegan finished second.
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