Hailiee Deegan has had an above average season this year and has improved massively this season even if the stats do not show it. Her stats got worse but watching the races and seeing how the DNFs and wrecks happened more of it to blame is equipment and drivers in the series racing with little to no respect. Deegan finished the season with 2 top 10 finishes and 1 top 15 start in her xFinity Series debut in Vegas, proving that she can compete and run towards the front of the pack when given the opportunity.
This week Deegans team, formerly David Gilliand Racing now Tricon Garage, will not only be changing names but they are also changing manufacturers from Ford to Toyota. Normally when a team changes manufacturers the drivers follow suit and follow the team but there are some special cases where a driver has 2 contracts, a team contract and a manufacturer contract (Ford, Chevy, Toyota) where they drive for a team based on what manufacturer the team drives. This leaves Deegan some interesting options for where she can drive next season. The most likely landing spot is the 07 SS Greenlight car that was piloted this season by Joe Graf Jr. A single car Ford team that has a Stewart Haas affiliation and has shown with a talented driver they can win races. Deegan could use this team as a step up and try to prove that she can do what everyone says she can and race better in a cleaner series.
Deegan can also do what Ryan Preece did and become a developmental driver for SHR and run a part time schedule across all 3 national series in some of the best equipment and be around one of the best teams and talent in the sport. This would mean not running full time and taking a back seat for a year but with Harvick aging out in Cup and Riley Herbst severely underperforming in xFinity within the next couple of seasons two very good seats at Ford are bound to open up.
Deegans career will be exciting to watch as she has shown that she has the talent and the sponsors to compete and this next season, now she just needs the seat time to get the job done.
The Slow Restart 