Hailie Deegan, competing in her rookie NASCAR Xfinity Series season, managed a career-best finish of #12 at Talladega Superspeedway. It is easy to think that the driver of the No. 15 AM Racing team would be content with her finish. But in reality, it was a missed opportunity to get a top-5 finish and possibly a win.

With the double overtime finish looming large for the Ag-Pro 300 Xfinity race, Deegan found herself in a perfect position for the restart in fourth. Having avoided multiple wrecks and crashes, the No. 15 team found themselves in an excellent position for their best-ever finish. But Deegan could not make the final push without the help of the tailing pack, resulting in a #12 finish. Knowing that a better finish was on the cards, the driver was left frustrated with the treatment she received from the other drivers during the last stretch of the race.

Riley Herbst playing spoilsport for a better finish in Deegan’s favor

Coming off the final lap, the No. 98 car was tailing Deegan and had they worked in tandem, they could have created momentum for a better finish on the last stretch. However, Herbst decided to part his own way and took the outside lane, leaving the No. 15 car stranded. And with all the cars lining behind 98 on top, it blew the winds out of the sails for Deegan as she kept losing track position.

Sharing her bittersweet feelings about the race finish, Deegan, via her YouTube vlog, said, “After that caution, next thing you know, we’re restarting fourth. The leader was restarting in front of me, and I didn’t link up with him great like I wanted to, and we were kind of battling right there. I was hanging by myself in the second row and just waiting and waiting. I just got let dry a little bit.”

However, with the thought that she could have even had a stronger finish to the race, she expressed her disappointment, stating, “It’s funny because if you’d have told me I was going to finish 12th at the beginning of the race, I would be like, oh it’s a pretty decent day like considering Talladega…So it’s one of those things where I’m like now in that position to do better than you actually finished. It hurts; it eats you alive, and I think that’s why I’m so upset about it.”

While it is a thorn in the side of the No. 15 team, knowing they could’ve ended up inside the top five. It was indeed a positive outcome for them. One on which they can build momentum for the upcoming races.

The Talladega result can be a turning point for Deegan and her team

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By competing in her rookie season, this season is more about learning the tricks and trades of running in the Xfinity Series for the 22-year-old, although, she has the right to be upset at other drivers for not helping her out. She’s only going to learn from these experiences. It was a first for the driver to find herself running up front. Well, now she knows how to better deal with such situations from now on.

Momentum is a real thing in racing, and after a couple of DNF finishes early in the season, Hailie Deegan has now managed a #23 or better finish in the last five races. Talladega has been an excellent venue for the driver, as she has a couple of top-ten finishes to her name in the Truck Series. So, the key for the No. 15 AM Racing team will be to keep churning out excellent results and stay consistent. If they successfully manage that, they will turn around and look at this result as the turning point in the season.