“Gonna have to start performing on that thing called a race track,” Daytona 500 winner Crew Chief demands results from Hailie Deegan after ThorSport move
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Hailie Deegan
Hailie Deegan is tipped to be the next-female racing superstar. Her first towards glory is proving herself next season. The 2021 Truck championship-winning team ThorSport signed Deegan. She was given the opportunity following TS’s return to the Ford garage. The ford DGR driver will pilot the No:13 Truck in 2023.
ThorSport already provided her with some of the most valuable assets she could ask for to succeed. The most impressive one is the appointment of Ben Rhodes’s crew chief, who lewd him to the championship in 2021, to the No:13 team. She also has three experience templates to guide her. Three times Truck champion Matt Crafton, and Ty Majeski, alongside Rhodes, is in the lineup.
Deegan’s signing has more than just race wins in mind. It is made considering the marketability of her presence in the garage as the top-ranked female racer. This was one of the significant reasons for criticism ThorSport faced after announcing the new line-up. Now two, times Daytona 500-winning crew chief Larry McReynolds has joined the critics. She has demanded a step-up performance from Deegan in 2023.
“To me, a third season, the rubber’s meeting the road. I don’t care how many YouTube followers you have or social media. That’s all grand. That’s all great. Going to have to start performing on that thing called a race track,” Larry McReynolds said.
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Larry McReynolds backs his arguments with Hailie Deegan’s performance stat
Larry McReynolds’s remarks hold truth as Deegan is yet to fulfill her potential in the track. She had 42 starts in the third-tier NASCAR series and hasn’t yet secured a win. McReynolds pointed out that her winning a race benefit many as she represents the minority female community of NASCAR.
“I say this with the utmost respect because it’s beneficial for everybody involved for Hailie Deegan to perform. She is a female. She is a minority, driving a NASCAR Camping World, or what’s now Craftsman Truck Series truck. It’s so beneficial that she performs,” Larry McReynolds said.
Larry McReynolds opinionated that Deegan might have overachieved in her start at Kansas. He explains it by pointing at the 42 starts she made in the series. Deegan has an average finish of outside the top 20. Even after having a solid ride in DGR, she failed to succeed while the part-time drivers of the team collected paychecks for victories.
“But to me, this is a year where the rubber will meet the road. She has 46 starts. She made that one start in 2020 in Kansas, and she bounced out there, having never been in a truck before, back in an era of COVID where you lined them up and raced them. And she finished 16th. I felt like she overachieved because they ran her out of gas that day,” Larry McReynolds added.
“But since then, she ran 22 races in ’21, 23 races in ’22, and has three top-10 finishes. The best finish of 6th at Talladega this past fall. And nobody knows this better than Hailie. She has got to step it up. Because I even go back to last year at David Gilliland Racing. That 17 truck was running up front hands over fist. Winning races,” Larry McReynolds explained.
Also read: NASCAR Twitter rates Austin Dillon’s 2022 season
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Justin P Joy
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