DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Hailie Deegan continues to inch toward her superspeedway debut in the ARCA Menards Series, but she’s kept her aspirations mostly in check. But even a measured, moderate approach has its limits.
“If you’re any type of driver, you want to win — end of story,” Deegan said just before opening practice for Saturday’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway. “That’s my goal. That’s everyone else’s goal, but I think we have to have realistic expectations, kind of see where we balance out in practice before we get ahead of ourselves, see where our single-run speed is, where we run in the draft.”
Deegan’s No. 4 DGR-Crosley Ford wound up on top of the speed chart in first practice for Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1), the first race of her rookie ARCA Menards Series campaign. While mentioning a potential win in one breath, the 18-year-old driver also expressed her hopes for a clean race and steering clear of the chaos that often follows the series on its biggest tracks.
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While she still has to wait out the outcome of Saturday afternoon qualifying (12:30 p.m. ET), her No. 4 Ford already has proven credentials. Todd Gilliland drove the same DGR-Crosley chassis — skinned last year as a Toyota — to second place in the Daytona event last season and a victory at sister track Talladega Superspeedway in 2019.
Besides the change in manufacturers, the car has a different look from the moment it was unveiled at the Ford Performance Center to signal her jump to the Dearborn automaker. An aggressive set of teeth around the grille were borrowed — with sponsor Monster Energy’s sign-off — from the rally car graphics formerly used by her father, X Games standout Brian Deegan.
“I was like, we need to spice this up a little bit,” she said, “and plus my spotter couldn’t tell which car was mine.”
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Deegan’s competition come Saturday should be stout, including teammates Tanner Gray and Thad Moffitt in two more Fords from veteran David Gilliland’s organization.
Deegan is actually one of three women scheduled to start Saturday’s 200-miler. Dominique Van Wieringen, who topped preseason testing last month, will pilot the Rette Jones Racing No. 30 Ford; Natalie Decker, the ARCA Daytona pole winner in 2018, is set to drive Ken Schrader’s No. 52 Ford.
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Michael Self, last year’s ARCA Menards Series runner-up, will vie for his second Daytona victory in the last three years in a return to Venturini Motorsports. He’ll team with Drew Dollar and Ryan Repko, two drivers with four ARCA starts between them.
Riley Herbst — like Deegan, a former NASCAR Next class member — will bring a Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota to the fray. He’s finished 10th in the ARCA opener the last two seasons.