Motorsport photo Nick DeGroot Sun, October 18, 2026 at 4:01 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hailie Deegan returned to stock car racing in 2026 with a full-time ride in the ARCA Menard's West Series, which followed a brief stint in Indy NXT.
Driving for Bill McAnally Racing, she is top five in the championship standings and earned an emotional win at Madera Speedway in California. It was her fourth career ARCA West victory, but her first since the 2019 season.
She began her rise in ARCA West in 2018, was full-time in NASCAR Trucks between 2021 and 2023, and then ran half of the 2024 NASCAR O'Reilly Series before trying out open-wheel racing last year.
But what's next for the 25-year-old racer?
"Whatever I do, I want to stay in racing for as long as possible," said Deegan in a Saturday press conference at Phoenix Raceway. That's my goal. I just, I love racing. It's part of my life. It's everything in my life. And so next year, I would love to go Truck racing again."
But of course, there's a lot of pieces that need to fall into place for that to happen.
"Working on everything we possibly can to be able to move forward and keep digging at it," continued Deegan. "Obviously, it's a lot. You got to get a lot of sponsor commitments and everything to kind of end up there. So working on stuff, but if I had my dream scenario and I guess unlimited budget, that's where I would like to go."
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Deegan admitted there is no deal locked in at this time as she continues to work on securing solid plans for the 2027 racing season.
"I wish I could give you guys like a for sure answer," said Deegan. "I don't even know for sure for myself at all. We're still working on stuff, but obviously dream scenario would be to be able to go Truck racing. If everything works out and everything keeps building and growing, that would be great to end up there. I wish I could say, cause I wish I knew myself, but I don't. So, still working on it."
Deegan isn't overly concerned where things are at, as she noted there are still several months ahead of them before the 2027 season gets underway. She said the "hardest part in racing" is getting the proper sponsorship to fund an effort.
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Source: Sport
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