NASCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
HAILIE DEEGAN MEDIA TELECONFERENCE
Ford Performance developmental driver Hailie Deegan joined media members on a NASCAR Zoom call Wednesday afternoon to discuss her season to date and upcoming races in the ARCA Menards Series.
HAILIE DEEGAN, No. 4 Ford Fusion — WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO TODAY? “We were testing, shaking down the car and working on our short track program a little bit at one of the tracks we aren’t racing at this year. That is what kind of sucks is that you don’t get to text at the tracks you race on. We were at some track down past Greensboro. I slept the whole time in the car while my grandpa drove. I am racing the same car I raced this last weekend.”
HOW MUCH DAMAGE DID THE CAR INCUR AFTER I-44? “It wasn’t bad at all. We replaced a few panels on it and they were able to fix the door from when me and Ty got into it. I had a right rear panel damaged and the rear bumper. I ended up taking all the panels home actually, I still have them in the back of my truck. I take the panels home when I wreck. My garage is full of them.”
SO THE TRACK WAS CHALLENGING AND YOU HAD TO GET IN THE WATER TO PASS GUYS, HOW MANY TIMES DID THE CAR GET AWAY FROM YOU BECAUSE OF THAT? “It was honestly kind of stupid that we raced in that condition because people on TV don’t really see it as much and don’t understand it when the track is wet on the bottom and don’t get it when they aren’t a racer. It went a lot better than I thought it was going to go considering how one-lane it was and how you couldn’t use the first two bottom groves so you can’t get a pass done from start to finish in one corner so you would always go on the inside of someone there and it would end bad.”
ANY WORDS EXCHANGED AFTER THE RACE? “I apologized to people and people apologized to me too. I feel like there were a few drivers that were very mature about it and a few that weren’t. But at the end of the day I am not too worried about it. I did my part. Nothing I did was intentional and I did my part apologizing to the people I felt deserved an apology. I am not the type of person to get in a mishap with someone, even if it is an accident, and just ignore them. I will say sorry even if it wasn’t intentional. I don’t think it was as bad as people think. I think a lot of people try to stir up drama about it and it totally wasn’t like that.”
JUMPING AHEAD TO BRISTOL NEXT WEEK, YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING BACK THERE AND WHAT YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY IS GOING TO THAT RACE NEXT THURSDAY? “I am excited. My first race with DGR was at Bristol. I know it was kind of a last minute deal and I was still learning myself, which I am still learning now, but I didn’t know what I needed out of the car yet. We had a good car there and it was really fast for a segment of time but that is when I was still struggling to figure out what changes I wanted to make and learning things I liked about the car. I think we fell off more than we should have there. I think going back this year I have a clear mindset of what I like in the car and it will be better for us. Me and my crew chief and crew guys have been getting along really well and they have been giving me the car I need with what I like with my driving style. That took a little while to figure out with each other but we are doing good with that now.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE WALKING INTO THAT PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME? “I usually fall down. The thing I hate the most is that your ears ring for like three days after. Other than that, it is amazing. It is so cool and so historic.”
IS THE VIBE OF A RACE AT THE TRACK DIFFERENT WITHOUT FANS? “Completely. I-44 we had quite a few fans there and it is just like the whole vibe is different and I think us not having fans there has made it more like a test day. It feels like a test day when there are no fans. I like race days, I look forward to race days. I even noticed that with I-44 having the fans there and I was leading and had the break and then everyone was cheering and stuff, those little things make it so much more meaningful and special.”
YOU HAVE RACED TOLEDO A FEW TIMES, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK THERE? “It is a little small. It lacks a lot of grip. It always rains there and that doesn’t help with NASCAR racing. It would be great if it was an off-road track. The biggest thing you are fighting there seems to be the weather. It is so hard to find a good setup when the track is dry one second and the next thing you know it is raining and then downpouring and then seeping. It is always changing which makes it so hard to figure out what you want to have out of the car.”
THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE YEAR TO GET YOUR EXPERIENCE ON BIG TRACKS YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ON
YET. WITH NO PRACTICE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE GAINED EXPERIENCE OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT HAS BEEN ALMOST A LOST YEAR? “I wouldn’t call it a lost year but I haven’t got everything out of it that I was planning on. I think we are making the best of it and have put a lot more time on the simulator and been doing a lot more around stock car racing, not just practicing at the track. I have been doing a lot more dirt circle track racing and sim time and studying footage and focusing on the off-track stuff to get me ready for the on-track stuff to get me ready since we have such a lack of practice.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY TRUCK PLANS AT ALL THIS YEAR? “As of now nothing is really set in stone. Money is still tight. ARCA is expensive. We are still figuring it out. At the beginning of the year I thought we would be in the clear to do a few truck races money wise and budget wise for my racing but what actually happened was with the whole COVID deal and everything, everyone’s budgets that they were going to give extra on top of what I had was cut. We had to start from square one again. We are still trying to figure everything out. Obviously I would love to do truck races this year if it works out. I think it will help me with my plan next year too.”
YOU KNOW SOME FOLKS THAT HAVE TRUCKS IN THE GARAGE: “I know people that have trucks but I am struggling to find people that want to pay for them.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A RACECAR DRIVER IN A SEASON LIKE THIS? WHAT HAS THIS BEEN LIKE AND THE CHALLENGES FOR YOU THIS SEASON? “Honestly, just because we weren’t planning on it, I didn’t have this in my plan. This wasn’t in my couple year plan of stock car racing of trying to make it. This is something that no one had in their plan or had been through before. It makes it difficult, especially for a driver like me that doesn’t have as much experience as I want to have and needs more experience. You aren’t getting that. It favors drivers that have been there forever. Those are the ones it doesn’t affect the most. The up and coming drivers are trying to get seat time and experience. These races still cost the same for sponsors to pay for as they would if we got practice and qualifying and all that stuff. I get cut short, I am really the only one that gets cut short in the whole process because I am not getting the most out of it that I am needing to and was planning on from the beginning.”
DOES THIS PUT EVERYTHING BACK A YEAR IN TERMS OF YOUR RACING PLAN? “It doesn’t put it back a year, I think it will just make the development process harder. I think it will be a little harder on me and I am going to have to really buckle down and focus on it even more than I already am and really give it 110% effort every opportunity I get to because I am lacking everything I was planning. I am not lacking, but I am not getting as much as I was planning on. I am going to have to take advantage of every single opportunity I get and learn the most but I don’t think it will put us back a year, no.”
HOW HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CREW CHIEF GROWN THROUGH THE YEAR? “It has been pretty good right now. It helps me being in North Carolina so much. I have been in North Carolina ever since racing started back up about 90% of the past couple of months. I rarely go home. I go home for a few days before Bristol and that is it. I have been at the shop at least half the week hanging out and just being around the guys and building relationships with the guys. I think that is really important to have a successful career, bonding with your crew guys and making them feel special and feel like it isn’t just a one person show because it is not. It takes effort from everyone.”
WITH THE ELDORA TRUCK RACE GETTING CANCELED, I IMAGINE YOU HAD TO BE PRETTY UPSET? “Yeah, I am still upset over it. I am not glad Eldora got canceled but if it was going to get canceled I guess at least I don’t have to look for funding for it. It is out of my hands. I don’t have to worry about that. There is always next year. We will figure it out.”
HOW HAS RUNNING IN SO MANY DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES HELPED YOU AS A DRIVER AND HAS ANY OF THAT BEEN ABLE TO TRANSLATE FOR YOU AS FAR AS SKILLS WHEN YOU HAVE COME BACK TO THE ARCA CAR? “I think that I am just trying to do everything I can that is budget friendly that I can get a lot out of for a little cost. Stock car racing is so expensive so I am trying to go to other sources to find where I can learn more about racing and keeps me behind the wheel. I think we have been lacking a lot in the ARCA Series some good racing and I think the last time we saw good racing was Gateway. There were some good battles happening. Most of the time everyone gets so spread out in the ARCA Series that the racing becomes boring. I think what we need back is that good racing back and I was planning on racing like that. Between that and no pit stops and no practice I have to find other places to get experience and learn and develop.”
YOU HAVE DONE A LOT OF THAT WITH THE FACTOR ONE WITH THE MICRO PROGRAM THAT YOU HAVE RUN SOME RACES WITH. WHAT HAS THAT EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE? HAS ANY OF YOUR OFF-ROAD BACKGROUND HELPED YOU GET ADAPTED TO THE MICRO? “I think it is a very cost effective way for me to get good racing experience. I can do that very often out here. It is close to my house, only like an hour. That is something I have really latched onto and it is fun having all my friends out there. It is a fun, no pressure thing I can do to gain more experience. The guys at Factor One are great and they have a lot of experience with dirt circle track racing. I don’t have a lot of experience with that being an off-road racer but dirt racing is dirt racing. I feel like if you know how to drive on dirt you can drive on it across the board to a certain extent. Obviously you have to learn more and I need to learn more with the micros but it helped me to get to a certain point at first.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE BETWEEN DIRT OVAL RACING AND YOUR OFF-ROAD BACKGROUND? “No spotters. None. I don’t like that. I like having someone talking in my ear and I am used to that. Something about the feeling about just clearing yourself is just uneasy with me. I don’t like it.”
IN A STATE LIKE OHIO AND A TRACK LIKE TOLEDO AS A LOCAL TRACK AND THE CUP SERIES DOESN’T GET TO OHIO. HOW IMPORTANT ARE THOSE LOCAL TRACKS TO GROWING THE SPORT? “I think that is where you make your core base of fans and build that fan base of people that buy your merch, support you and support your social media and they come with you and eventually end up at the big series races. I think if every driver can bring their fan base from their local circle track to the NASCAR world and the three main series I think you will just keep building the sport.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE THAT DON’T UNDERSTAND THE DRIVING MENTALITY PROCESS LIKE YOU DO? “At the end of the day, ARCA is a development series. It isn’t the Cup series. It is a stepping stone for drivers to move up to higher levels. I think people get so judgemental on it and there are some moments where people make mistakes and it is not Cup racing. People have to understand that. Also, to a certain extent, we were supposed to be getting more out of the ARCA Series than we are. We were supposed to get pit stops. That is something I need to practice before I go to trucks. We were supposed to get practice, qualifying and we usually get a day before practice at the big tracks. All of that is getting cut. We maybe get five laps of practice at some of the bigger tracks like Michigan. All of a sudden you go right into the race and green flag racing and it is a lot different. It has definitely been a lot more difficult and harder on my career.”
YOU HAVE HAD A TOP-10 FINISH IN ALL BUT TWO RACES THIS YEAR. HOW DO YOU EVALUATE YOUR SEASON TO THIS POINT? ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE THUS FAR? “If I finished outside of the top-10 without anything happening I would be nervous for myself. I just hold myself to such a high standard and have such high goals for myself to accomplish and I know I am still in my development years and stuff but still, having a lot of eyes on me does add pressure and it does add pressure to do better than I am at any moment. I think I just have to keep my mind that I am in the ARCA Series and developing for the future.”
WHAT ARE THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES TO HAVING ALL THOSE EYEBALLS ON YOU? “I think that when it is going good everyone sees it but when it is going bad, everyone sees it. You don’t get to choose when people see it. That is the thing.”
WHAT KIND OF DISCUSSIONS HAVE YOU HAD GOING INTO NEXT SEASON? “That is the thing, it is kind of difficult when you race off sponsorships because you almost have to finish out your year before you get in talks of the next year. With everything happening this year, there is no set plan of what is happening for next year. Are we going to have practice back? Are we going to have qualifying back? Sponsors want to know how much they are getting out of it. I think that is something that is still very unknown and very hard to talk about sponsor deals at the moment.”
YOU MENTIONED EARLIER THAT YOU COLLECT THE PANELS OFF ALL YOUR CARS. WHY IS THAT AND HOW DID THAT GET STARTED? “Actually, I went inside the shop and I had a nose that was absolutely mangled from Kentucky. We had to put a new front clip on the car. So I asked the guys if they had the nose anywhere. I wanted to take it with me. So I am driving my Raptor and every time I went to the shop, there are races that we didn’t damage anything, but small things like a bumper or something that can’t be fixed. Then all of a sudden I found in the shop that they had a secret cabinet of all my panels from the beginning of the year. So I ended up taking all of them. Every time I go to the shop I am always like, ‘Where did those panels go?’ I want to think about how I can do it the correct way but I want to start selling them and give a big portion of it to charity and stuff. That is something I have been looking to get behind and find a charity that I can support.”
IS YOUR CALIFORNIA HOME IN DANGER OF THE WILDFIRES OUT THAT WAY? “California is always on fire. That is one thing that you have to keep in mind. It is always on fire. I live in a dirt field with weeds everywhere and it is always on fire. I am used to it. That is kind of the normal of California. If there is not a fire in California, usually something is wrong.”
DO YOU HAVE A CART TRACK ON YOUR PROPERTY THAT YOU USE AS WELL? “We got like a makeshift dirt oval and we have off-road, a full off-road truck track and ramps for off-road trucks. My little brother has two supercross tracks and an outdoor track and ramps everywhere. We have an airbag and all kinds of stuff. My uncle built all of our tracks when he was younger. We have tractors and everything and he builds all the tracks for us. Since he is related, it is just easy. There is always stuff happening around our house.”
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO RUNNING THIS WEEKEND AT TOLEDO? “Toledo is just kind of an odd place for us to go back so many times. It is like, is it really necessary for us to race there? There are so many short tracks to race on and it feels like we go to Toledo quite a bit. I have a little negative thought on Toledo because the last time I was there I got food poisoning. I went to Wendy’s the night before because I was starving and nothing was open because it is Toledo and I went to Wendy’s and got chicken nuggets. The next day when we had to go race I woke up in the morning throwing up and got to the racetrack and went to sleep in my hauler in the lounge and my crew chief said he would wake me up before we go out. He came running in and told me to get ready. I got my suit on and didn’t even get my shoes on in time before I had to run out of the hauler and threw up everywhere. I grabbed my helmet, but my helmet on, we did six laps and then it got rained out the rest of the day. So I am not the biggest fan of Toledo.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST LOSS FOR YOU NOT HAVING PRACTICES THIS YEAR? “I think the two biggest things that stick out the most in my mind are not having pit stops, like traditional pit stops and not having practice. Those are two things that I really needed and am going to need before I go to trucks.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL LIKE HAVING THAT TIME WITH A NEW CREW CHIEF PLAYS INTO THE COMMUNICATION AND TRANSLATES TO PERFORMANCE? “I think that is definitely important but I think I have been able to get around that by just hanging out with the guys at the shop all the time. Since they are all in the race shop working on my cars I am able to go there and hang out in a no pressure environment, so that hasn’t been too bad.”
A LOT OF YOUR WEST COAST SUCCESS CAME ON FLAT BULLRING TRACKS. WE DON’T HAVE MUCH OF THOSE: “Yeah, because we are going to Toledo four times.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A SHOT TO WIN SOME OF THESE UPCOMING RACES? “I think we are definitely close. I think we are just in the fine tuning stages of everything. Our short track program needed a little work at the beginning of the season but I think we made so much improvement and so many big steps that now we are in the small fine tuning area and parts where everything just has to come together. There are so many pieces to the puzzle.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ON THAT LAST RESTART AT I-44. WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY? “I don’t think I could have done anything differently. I think how everything played out and there were a lot of gray area things happening on the starts. I don’t think there was anything else I could have done. I went at the line. I can’t help it if someone else goes before me and rolls up next to me.”
THAT HAD TO GIVE YOU A LOT OF CONFIDENCE THOUGH TO PERFORM THE WAY YOU DID? “I think it showed the progress of our team and the progress of me as a driver and everyone on the team, not just myself. It is a whole team effort.”
