At this time last year, Hailie Deegan was reeling from a heartbreak. The 24-year-old speedster wheeled the No. 15 Ford under AM Racing’s banner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with little success. She could rope in zero top ten finishes and only three top 20 results. When Joey Logano registered a top ten finish in the same car in Chicago, Deegan lost her NASCAR job. However, her future job had a grueling truth that helped muffle her heartbreak and keep her busy.

On October 14, 2024, Hailie Deegan confirmed her move from stock car racing to open-wheel. This shift paved the way for a rollercoaster ride of events for the racer in 2025. Alongside her racing achievements, Deegan has also achieved physical health milestones, as she recently shed light on.

More muscle work for Hailie Deegan

Well, NASCAR and IndyCar are worlds apart. The stock cars in the former sport are heavy and loud, driven by racers in close-contact racing. IndyCar vehicles, on the other hand, are lightweight, open-wheel, open-cockpit vehicles emphasizing precision, speed, and handling, with turbocharged engines. Having already maneuvered the 3,400-pound NASCAR stock car, Deegan might have expected that adapting to IndyCar would be easy. However, she got a shocking surprise at her Indy NXT debut in St. Petersburg. After wheeling the No. 38 HMD Motorsports machine to a decent 14th-place finish, she came out of her car, clutching her right forearm.

The reason for that is IndyCar’s towering demand for physical prowess. Hailie Deegan shed light on that aspect in a recent ‘Off Track With Hinch and Rossi’ episode: “I think the biggest hurdle for me is the physical side.” She highlighted how the lack of power steering in IndyCar makes things ten times more difficult. She continued, ” I never really trained with a purpose… NASCAR stuff is not very physical, at least. I think if you just work out, you’re in great shape for NASCAR. Whereas this stuff, I think I underplayed the lack of power steering.”

Being the daughter of former multiple-time X Games gold medalist Brian Deegan, Hailie Deegan has been brought up in a disciplined household. That has helped her pull through IndyCar’s demands: “I’ve always worked out my whole life, just because I love it. I enjoy going to the gym, and I enjoy working out. My family, obviously, trains a lot – my brothers and my dad, everybody. Even my mom works out every single day.”

Hailie Deegan has yet to finish outside the top 20 this season. Her best finish was 11th place at Laguna Seca, where she dodged a lot of carnage and fierce charges from rivals. Hence, Deegan emphasized that her passion for racing is also helping her grow: “I’ve always loved road course racing…With Ford, I got to go do the GT4 stuff, IMSA, I finished on the podium there in one of the races…I had a blast doing it; it was a great experience. I’ve always loved go-karting…So when I kind of saw an opportunity, I was like, Oh! I wanna check this out, see how it is, and kind of like learn and build myself as a driver, see if I get better at something.”

Hailie Deegan builds her resume in IndyCar in the shadow of NASCAR. At the same time, her new sport is also growing in NASCAR’s absence at a venue.

Booking a slot in the Land of the Sun

In 2025, NASCAR flew to the South of the border. For the first time since 1958, the Cup Series held an international points-paying race in Mexico City with much pomp and glory. Despite the massive success the sport had, it will not be coming back for an encore in 2026. From logistical issues to the FIFA World Cup’s visit between June 11 and July 19, NASCAR executives had to step back. This has given IndyCar more reasons to step up plans in Mexico. Between the Texas race in March and the Long Beach Grand Prix in April, IndyCar will have a month-long gap in 2026. With hopes to fill this gap, IndyCar officials visited the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City just last week.

“We’re very confident we’ll race in Mexico City in 2026,” Roger Penske, IndyCar owner, said recently. However, Hailie Deegan’s new sport may need to cross a major hurdle first. Formula One has been visiting Mexico City since the racetrack’s early days. Hence, FOX reporter Kevin Lee outlined the challenges ahead: “So you already were dealing with a track that Formula One is their biggest event, and now Formula One has a big stake in it. I don’t think they really want IndyCar to do well. I don’t think they really want fans in Mexico City to find another option that might be a third or a fourth of the price and might have a Mexican driver that has a great chance of winning the race, unlike F1.”

As IndyCar continues to explore its 2026 options, Hailie Deegan expands her footprint in the sport. We cannot wait to see the former NASCAR star grow wings in her new discipline!