LAS VEGAS — Hailie Deegan accomplished her goal and set a NASCAR mark Saturday in her Xfinity Series debut.
Deegan’s 13th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is the best finish by a woman driver in an Xfinity debut.
“We were able to have a pretty fun day, a pretty clean day and super happy,” she said.
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The 21-year-old Deegan said the day before that she wanted to stay on the lead lap and grow more comfortable as the race progressed.
“I’d say that once we really got into that second stage to third stage, that’s when I started feeling a lot better about it,” she said. “We made one change that wasn’t great and put us back a little bit. I think that once we were able to overcome that … I feel that’s when we started learning a lot.
“Definitely third stage we fired off too free. I was able to notice that and make my in-car adjustments.”
Deegan, who is in her second year in the Camping World Truck Series, said she felt she could have more input with the Xfinity car compared to a truck.
As for the biggest lesson she learned Saturday?
“I learned so much that I haven’t got it processed yet … but I’m just happy we were able to have a good run,” she said.
Deegan has had limited success this season in the Truck Series. Could a move to the Xfinity Series lead to better results? Deegan said her group is looking into making such a move but needs sponsorship. She said Saturday’s race is the only Xfinity race she is planning to run this year.
“When you run great, it helps deals for the future,” Deegan said. “Running Xfinity costs a very big bill. You’ve got to have sponsors to pay that bill. Trying to get the funding set is definitely tough, but we’re still trying to figure out what we’re doing.
“I wish I had answers for you guys. I want answers myself. At the end of the day, the more sponsors the better. We’re still trying to work on getting more on board. We don’t know when it’s going to be. It could be next year. It could be two years. I don’t know.”