Zach Dean|The Daytona Beach News-Journal
DAYTONA BEACH— Hailie Deegan's rise through the NASCAR ranks continues Friday, as the 19-year-old from California is set to make her third Truck Series start, this time on Daytona's 3.61-mile Road Course.
Deegan kicked off her first full-time season in the series last weekend, finishing 24th in the NextEra Energy 250after wrecking late in the race.
Still, she qualified well, ran up front most of the night, and is in equipment capable of winning each week.
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Five years after starting her NASCAR journey,Deegan knows that's saying a lot for a female racer trying to work her way to the top.
"It's tough ... it's really tough," said Deegan, who started out in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program atNew Smyrna Speedway in 2016. "It's not easier for a girl ... it takes a lot of work on the track."
Deegan is considered one of NASCAR's rising stars, and for good reason. Three years ago, shebecame the first woman to win a NASCAR K&N West Series race during a September raceat Meridian (Idaho) Speedway.
She had four top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in her first full season in the ARCA Menards Series last year, and finished 16th in her Truck Series debut in October.
While she's now graduated to the truck level, the next wave of ARCA females were at the track last weekend.
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Toni Breidinger,NASCAR’sfirst Arab-American female driver, finished 18th in the Lucas Oil 200. Gracie Trotter led eight laps and finished 23rd, whileBrittney Zamora was involved in a Lap 7 wreck and finished last.
"At the end of the day, you can do everything off the track perfect but if you can't drive on the track, it's never going to work," Deegan said when asked of her advice to female racers following in her footsteps.
"You have to really put a lot of time and effort into your driving ability. It's really tough when a lot of these guys have raced for so many years of their life on pavement, and a lot of the older guys you're racing against just have so much experience."
Learning from Daytona winner to bridge experience gap
Deegan said she's leaned on former Daytona winner and Cup veteran David Ragan, anotherFord driver, to help her bridge the experience-gap she'll face early this season.
For Friday'sBrakeBest Brake Pads 159 (7:30 p.m., FS1) on Daytona's Road Course, she's also relied on her Ford simulator, along with what she learned in last summer's ARCA race on this course.
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"I think where I need to learn (most) is how the truck actually handles," said Deegan, who finished sixth in that ARCA race."The first couple laps will be about being smart, staying out of the chaos, not over-driving and just hitting our marks and learning how the truck feels and what I need out of it.”
Ben Rhodes won last Friday's season-opening NextEra Energy 250 on the Daytona tri-oval. Sheldson Creed, the defending series champ, won last year's August Daytona Road Course race.
BrakeBest Brake Pads 159 starting lineup
Hailie Deegan will roll off 23rd, while last week's race-winner, Ben Rhodes, will lead the field to green.
Due to COVID-19, there will not be a qualifying session for every race.To determine starting lineups for races with no qualifying, competition officialsadopted a performance-metrics formula that would set the starting field.
Here's how they'll lineup:
1. Ben Rhodes
2. Ryan Truex
3. Carson Hocevar
4. John Hunter Nemechek
5. Sheldon Creed
6. Cory Roper
7. Codie Rohrbaugh
8. Chandler Smith
9. Matt Crafton
10. Spencer Boyd
11. Zane Smith
12. Raphael Lessard
13. Bobby Reuse
14. Austin Wayne Self
15. Danny Bohn
16. Christian Eckes
17. Jennifer Jo Cobb
18. Jason White
19. Johnny Sauter
20. Austin Hill
21. Brett Moffitt
22. Parker Chase
23. Hailie Deegan
24. Kaz Grala
25. David Gilliland
26 .Tyler Ankrum
27. Timothy Peters
28. Tate Fogleman
29. Chase Purdy
30. Stewart Friesen
31. Derek Kraus
32. Todd Gilliland
33. Tanner Gray
34. Timmy Hill
35. Jett Noland
36. Sam Mayer
37. Camden Murphy
38. Dawson Cram
39. Norm Benning
40. Lawless Alan
