“Should’ve Fired Hailie [Deegan]”- AM Racing Cutting Ties With NASCAR Veteran Has Fans Calling Out Shock Announcement

Who would have thought that Hailie Deegan’s 20th-place finish at Charlotte would cost Joe Williams his job? The 22-year-old currently ranks 26 points in the Xfinity standings, and her best finish was on March 2 in Las Vegas, which seems like an eternity ago. Williams has been in charge of AM Racing’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program since its inception and worked with Brett Moffitt last season and Hailie Deegan in the first 12 races of 2024.

With AM Racing currently ranked 29th in Owner’s Points, it was clear that a change in personnel was needed. The only question was: who? Contrary to the opinion of fans, AM Racing announced in a statement that they had parted ways with Crew Chief Joe Williams, with immediate effect.

The statement announcing Williams parting ways with AM Racing read, “Effective today, AM Racing has parted ways with Joe Williams, the crew chief of Hailie Deegan’s No. 15 Ford Mustang. AM Racing Competition Director, Matt Lucas, will step in as interim crew chief for this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway and next weekend at Sonoma Raceway.”

Matt Lucas, who has been Competition Director at AM Racing since 2024, has been part of championship-winning teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing and Hattori Racing Enterprises. His extensive experience also includes stints with XCI Racing and Reaume Brothers Racing.

Lucas has enjoyed his fair share of victories, having worked on and off as crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. However, it is yet to be announced if Lucas will remain the crew chief of the No. 15 Airbox Ford Mustang team even after the series’ next two events in Portland and Sonoma.

Hailie Deegan or Joe Williams? Fans have their say

The decision to part ways with Joe Williams was met with much criticism on social media. Criticizing the driver’s performance, and suggesting an alternative to AM Racing a fan wrote, “Fired the wrong Person. Should’ve fired Hailie.” Sharing the same sentiment, another fan wrote “I don’t think the problem is the crew chief. Why was she moved up? She didn’t have hang of the trucks yet. What made anyone think she would do better here?”

On the contrary, some fans were more supportive of Deegan and her journey here in NASCAR, and rather said things in her favor to uplift her spirit, “I think Hailie can do it but they should put an experienced driver in the seat for a race just to test the equipment before axing the crew chief js.”

A fan even questioned Joe Williams and his years of experience, suggesting he could try his luck with something else, “Let go of one of the most underrated crew chief’s in the game.. Looking forward to seeing him thrive again in a different environment.”

Someone in the comments also felt the hatred and backlash for Hailie Deegan due to her lack of success lately and asked the others to let her be, as she is surviving the racial hate in her Xfinity career, and wrote, “Yall are such haters leave Hailie alone.”

Only time will tell if the decision to fire Joe Williams instead of Hailie Deegan was the right one. It will be interesting to see how the team performs in the two races at Portland and Sonoma. Do you think interim crew Matt Lucas will still be in charge after the two events? Was sacking Joe Williams in place of Hailie Deegan the right decision? Let us know in the comments.