Fans Cut Hailie Deegan No Slack Despite Her Cryptically Hinting to a Painful NASCAR Exit

2x Truck Series MPD Hailie Deegan hasn’t exactly been the most popular in her rookie Xfinity Series season yet. Whenever that #15 AM Racing Ford made its way onto the screens, it definitely got the conversations rolling, albeit not too positively at most times.

However, as per recent developments, the Temecula, CA native has once again caused a negative stir in the NASCAR community. But the circumstances are certainly heartbreaking for reasons one too many.

Is Hailie Deegan’s AM Racing ride disappearing for good after Xfinity Chicago?

On July 1st, news broke that Nashville’s most recent Cup champ, Joey Logano, would be wheeling AM Racing’s #15 at the Loop 110 Chicago Street Race for an appearance, replacing Hailie Deegan. An official statement from team president Wade Moore read, “The level of competition in the Xfinity Series is as competitive as it’s ever been. It is our goal at AM Racing to field a competitive race team through our technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing and provide any of our drivers the best equipment and opportunity to be successful on track each weekend.”

The statement also indicated that one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Xfinity allies did not enjoy the success they “were hoping for in the first half of the season.” And that Joey Logano’s feedback would be crucial for them to provide for the team’s “growth.” But in more recent regard, the huge missing factor amidst all these developments, Hailie Deegan made some concerning actions online. In an emphatic report, Dave Green, also known as NASCAR Prophecy on Twitter, wrote, “Hailie Deegan has removed AM racing from her Twitter bio.  I don’t know if she’s upset about Joey Logano racing her car this weekend or they are going their separate ways.” 

The Team Penske star will be the third driver to man an AM Racing car in the Xfinity Series. Last year, Brett Moffitt drove their first-ever #25 Ford to 17th in the points standings with a best finish of P4 at the Xfinity Chicago Street Race.

But more importantly, this season has been what some would call Hailie Deegan’s ‘own worst enemy.’ She plowed off her advances with a DNF at the Daytona Xfinity Series season opener. In the next 17 races, she ended her race early another two times, at Phoenix and Darlington. Her best finish this season has unfortunately been an average P15 Xfinity Talladega.

Add to that the many controversies and confrontations, like the one with Lawless Alan at Martinsville last year, and the fans haven’t been the most empathetic to Deegan amidst her disappointing fortunes.

Struggles spark social media firestorm

Although Joey Logano recently told Dale Earnhardt Jr on the latter’s podcast that AM Racing had come to him with the bearings that a seat for the #15 was “going to open up,” a total termination of Hailie Deegan’s contract is still unconfirmed. If the fallout is the by-product of some simmering tensions, that is also unclear. Nevertheless, those comments by Joey were duly emphasized by a member of the NASCAR community on Green’s post as they wrote, “Joey Logano said on the Jr Download that AM Racing called him and said a seat has opened up. Didn’t sound like they meant 1 race.”

But the tweetstorm had also reached the NASCAR subreddit by this point, and those comments were equally controversial, even by the standards normally assigned to Hailie Deegan fan discontent.  One Redditor shared, “At this point, Nashville was probably Deegan’s final race for AM Racing, considering her lack of results this season” At Nashville, Deegan finished 28th. In the four races prior to that, the #15 car’s best was a P25 in Iowa.

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Another observed that “this is the quietest she’s been” contrary to Deegan’s loud social media personality. Another sarcastically wrote, “The Xfinity cars just really aren’t suited to her driving style 😕,” to which one user replied, “Neither were the trucks.” The backlash kept piling on Deegan as this NASCAR fan opined that Deegan “Should try Uber.”

But one message was truly eye-catching as it aimed to provide a contingency ‘plan’ for Deegan, similar to the one helping her fellow female NASCAR driver Natalie Decker with DGM Racing. As the comment suggested, “She needs to go on the Natalie Decker plan. Find a decent mid pack team to run a few races with per year at tracks where she could likely succeed at.”

With these disheartening developments for Hailie Deegan arriving right before the second annual Xfinity Chicago Street Race, do you think Joey Logano could light up the mood a little for AM Racing? Let us know in the comments below.