Hailie Deegan has returned to the ARCA Menards Series West with Bill McAnally Racing, BMR announced Jan. 21.
Deegan will drive the No. 16 full time in 2026, her first full season in the series since 2019.
NAPA Auto Care, Columbia Bank and Monster Energy will sponsor the effort.
“I couldn’t be more excited to reunite with Bill [McAnally, owner] and the BMR team,” Deegan said in a team release. “I’ve been away from stock cars for a bit but am focused on coming back stronger and competing for wins and a championship. Having Columbia Bank and Monster Energy on board and working with NAPA Auto Care again is going to be a thrill, and our goal is to get them to victory lane multiple times this year.”
“Having Hailie back on our team is incredibly special,” McAnally added. “We enjoyed working together several years ago and won some races. I see the commitment she has for competing at this level and we want to be part of her success. She has the knowledge of winning out West and we have a great chance to chase our 12th title with her and Mason Massey in the fold.”
Deegan won three races and earned 13 top fives and 23 top 10s while driving for BMR in the series.
She also competed in NASCAR’s national series during the first part of the 2020s before moving to Indy NXT last year.
Deegan joins Mason Massey as BMR’s full-time West drivers for 2026.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.
All these stars hating on hailie deegan, she has some good and bad racing 5 top 10 in trucks, 3 wins in arca, tough road in indy nxt and xfinty or oreilly but has the talent and capability to come back and does not need to listen to negative nebobs of negative people, you should hope she does well and more women do well and help nascar otherwise nascar continues to lose viewers, give her another chance hopefully she be more aggressive and get good results
Unaware of what exactly is being said by the stars, but statistically, it’s not a pretty picture. For me, it has nothing to do with being negative for the sake of negativity…it’s all about the performance, or lack thereof.
The three ARCA wins were in ARCA West, not the full series, and date back to 2018 – 2019.
Her final season in trucks (2023) she had two top tens, one of which was Talladega, which is obviously a track where anyone still running at the final flag can potentially have a strong finish, or even win.
Over 69 races in the truck series, 7.2% of her starts resulted in top ten finishes, with zero top five finishes. Two of the five top tens were at Talladega.
Exclude those two “plate” races in trucks, and the top ten percentage drops to 4.5%. So, just over one top ten per season, other than plate tracks.
Barring being Hailie Deegan, or having some connection to the owner of a car, I cannot fathom anyone continually getting opportunities based upon this performance.
I hope she does well. I agree it would be good for the sport. I just haven’t seen anything to indicate she has potential to develop into a top tier talent.
Nascar ratings need women racers. Danica took her fans and viewers with her when she left. I will watch the 8 truck races Toni is in and if Natalie in what ever xfinity is called now. Also when Kat races. Most of my stock car racing will be arca with Hailie (west) Isabella, Taylor, Lanie, Jade and what ever other young girl can get a ride. Otherwise F1 academy.
Partially agree. Diversity would certainly help NASCAR’s viewership, but only if the drivers in question are competitive. The problem is, most sponsors are only interested in women as drivers if they are considered “cute” or “hot”.
Danica was competitive in Indycar, but was an embarrassment in NASCAR. She was a side show more than competitor. Frankly, she reminded me of an even slower version of Ty Gibbs. Always mad at other drivers, her crew chief, her pit crew, her teammates, ANYONE, rather than looking in the mirror and improving her driving.
Deegan has under-performed in multiple of NASCAR’s lower series once before, and was quite frankly remarkably bad in IndyNXT. With IndyNXT, the only question each week was how many laps before she would be a lap down, and in the races she completed, whether she would be dead last amongst all cars still running.
Both cases above do not help the frankly stupid stereotypes that “wimmin caint dryve”. Some like to yammer about stamina, which is ridiculous, but until a woman with the driving skill (there are plenty who fit this mold) is given an opportunity in top tier equipment, we will continue to hear the tropes.
I think Robusto has the potential to change the narrative. If she continues to improve (and she’s not slow now), she could finally break the glass ceiling. I’ve seen nothing out of Breidinger or Decker to indicate they can consistently compete above ARCA. Possibly they’ll improve in trucks and O’Reilly, but for now, it seems both have plateaued.
From when I’ve heard her talk, Hailie seems to have her head on straight. As much as I respect her for that, I fear the time for improvement has passed and where she is is where she is.
It’s interesting because I recall Sarah Fischer and Danica Patrick generating interest and a fan following in Indycar. Admittedly, both were competitive and not back markers. Katherine Legge, Milka Duno, nor Simona De Silvestro were (that I recall) ever competitive. It’s unfortunate none of those 3 ladies could carry the torch that Sarah and Danica lit. Legge had the best chance (and was really there first, IIRC), but at least in recent years she hasn’t had consistent rides nor raced well.
Then we look at NHRA and see multiple ladies who were competitive and had success. The Force sisters (with Brittany setting and breaking her own top speed records last season), Leah Pruett, Erica Enders, etc.
And then there’s NASCAR. Outside of Janet Guthrie, none have really raised the bar. And that’s unfortunate.
Agree. Deegan is either quite bright, very well coached and managed, or both. She has built and maintains what amounts to a social media empire.
It’s always interesting with her…I see a lot of other drivers, both male and female, with resumes which meet or exceed hers. But I rarely see people supporting them as they do Deegan, whether it’s cheering for her as a fan, or arguing vociferously whenever anyone brings up her lack of results.
As a random example, look at Dylan Lupton’s racing career. Very similar to Deegan, and in many ways, slightly better. Yet, I don’t see people lining up to sing his praises.
I suspect Legge would have been competitive in NASCAR, had she spent the time in stock cars that she did in sports cars. Much as Jimmy Johnson failed when trying to transition to Indycar after Cup, Legge was/is too far behind the learning curve to make an impact in Cup after a great career in sports cars.
Don’t forget Shirley Muldowney in NHRA! She did it in an era when it was almost unfathomable to have a woman outrunning all the men on a weekly basis. I know…I’m old.
Can’t believe I forgot Shirley! :facepalm:
Who knows, she could end up in Indy NXT someday if she plays her cards right.
Top notch comment right there.
I can barely contain my excitement.