Hailie Deegan Makes a Blunt Admission Regarding Her NASCAR Career: “I Probably Wouldn’t Be in the Ride I’m in Right Now, if It Wasn’t for Me Doing Social Media”

Published 01/25/2022, 4:55 AM EST

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan is unquestionably one of the biggest rising stars in American motorsports. The most popular driver award winner of the 2021 season remains in the headlines as much for her on-track results as she does for her off-track presence.

That is to say that Deegan is one of the most profitable and most marketable race car drivers in the current scene. One needs to look no further than her insane social media following to get an idea of her popularity.

And this is something the NASCAR driver recently described as a crucial element in her racing journey.

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“I probably wouldn’t be in the ride I’m in right now, being able to race in the truck series full-time, if it wasn’t for me doing social media,” Deegan said. “Because it is very hard to sell sponsorship on a car when you can’t guarantee TV time. It’s very hard to guarantee that.”

“Sponsors want to see numbers. They want to see, ‘I put my logo on your car. How much product is it going to sell me?’ I am able to give them that with social media.”

Hailie Deegan has realistic goals despite a potential step-up looming around the corner

For a while now, it has been rumored and expected, that Hailie Deegan could climb up the ladder to the Xfinity Series in 2023. This would make the coming 2022 season an important one for her.

But despite this, the young driver is taking a ‘one step at a time’ approach.

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“It’s going to take time for me to get to where I want to be,” she said. “This season, I want to [be] … just going out there and constantly being better — me as a driver, me as a person, be my best self.”

She emphasized that the trajectory of what she’s trying to accomplish is simply to strengthen her ‘core relationship’ with her sponsors.

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And to be fair, this is the right thinking from her considering how many times we’ve seen a talented NASCAR driver knocking on the door of progress, but not being able to get in simply because he/she doesn’t have the all-important element – sponsorships.

Here’s How We Can See Hailie Deegan Making Her NASCAR Xfinity Series Debut in 2022

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Shaharyar is an F1 & NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. A graduate in Journalism from Amity University, he has been a passionate follower of motorsports for a better part of the decade. A Max Verstappen and Ferrari supporter, he dreams of a pairing of the two in future.