Should Hailie Deegan Race In Xfinity Series Despite Truck Struggles?

Hailie Deegan is one of the most popular figures in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Her results, however, have not come around like many expected them to so far in 2022.

In 2021, struggles were expected. Deegan was just 19 years old and was in a top division of NASCAR. She finished 17th in points with one top-10 finish. This year after 12 races Deegan finds herself 25th in the series point standings. A jump in performance was expected, but so far that has yet to happen.

However, there is news that Deegan is considering running an Xfinity Series race in 2022.

Is it possible she’s moving up too quickly? Should she run an Xfinity race in 2022? Vito Pugliese and Michael Nebbia debate.

Toiling in Trucks Is Not the Answer

With the Camping World Truck Series at the halfway point in the 2022 season, it’s a natural time to reflect on how a driver or team has fared thus far, in relation to their goals for the year, or judging off of a past season performance.

If you’ve followed Hailie Deegan’s foray into the trucks thus far, you’d be excused for cringing at what has transpired. Following this past weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway that started off promising with a top-10 qualifying effort, a solid pace in the first stage, only to be undone by pit issues and an off-road excursion on lap 66.

To say she’s had a sophomore slump would be an understatement – and also suggest that her freshman year was an unbridled success … which it was not. So what is the resolution to correct this path of mediocrity? Switch crew chiefs? Change manufacturers?

No — move her up a level.

Last week Deegan had intimated that an Xfinity start or two was in her future this year. Given how things have gone thus far, that seems like the opposite of what anyone offering responsible career guidance would suggest. In her case, I think there’s more upside than down at this stage in her development process. As Viper told Jester in Top Gun when Maverick couldn’t get back in the saddle, “Keep sending him up…”

Let’s take a step back to last season, her rookie year in the Truck Series.

We were still under COVID protocols from the year before, so teams had no practice and as a rookie driver in the series, most of the time her first look at a track was taking the green and sailing off in the first turn, hoping it stuck. She’d spend most of the first stage trying to learn how to drive the track, and the second stage trying to get the truck comfortable to try…