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Sophomore Journey: After a successful rookie campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last season with driver Brett Moffitt, AM Racing will embark on its sophomore journey in 2024 with driver Hailie Deegan for the entire 33-race tour, continuing with Saturday afternoon’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
The Statesville, N.C.-based team plans to expand its footprint in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to also run two cars throughout the season with its No. 25 AM Racing entry.
Future Focused: Last October, AM Racing announced that Hailie Deegan joined the family-owned operation to pilot the team’s No. 15 Ford Mustang in a multiyear agreement.
Deegan, a native of Temecula, Calif. has been a staple in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series for the past three seasons but will embrace her rookie season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as part of the Ford Performance program.
Deegan grew up racing off-road and on dirt but transitioned to competing on asphalt in 2016 to pursue a career in stock car racing. She began that transition in 2018 in the ARCA Menards Series West (previously NASCAR K&N Pro Series West), She became the first female driver to have won races in the West Series, doing so in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively.
Deegan, 21, arrives at AM Racing after a stint driving for ThorSport Racing in 2023.
Change The Game: Earlier this week, AM Racing and Deegan announced a partnership with trailblazing independent musician and one of music’s most respected artists, Cody Jinks for Saturday afternoon’s Focused Health 250.
With their partnership, AM Racing, along with Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year candidate Hailie Deegan, will promote Jinks’ anticipated new album, Change The Game, on March 22 via his own label, Late August Records, which he recently launched in an unprecedented partnership with The Orchard.
Produced by Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chili Peppers, ZZ Top) and Joshua Thompson, Jinks’ longtime bassist, Change The Game marks a new chapter for Jinks both personally and professionally. He is now self-managed with a completely independent team.
A multi-platinum and award-winning artist, Jinks has sold over 2 million tickets, released ten studio albums, sold more than 2 million equivalent units and garnered more than 4 billion streams across platforms with over 1 billion streams on Spotify and 1.7 billion streams on Pandora, earning him a Pandora Radio Billions Award.
He was also named Music Row’s 2023 Independent Artist of the Year after receiving the most radio spin for an independent artist last year—his second time receiving the award — and will continue to tour extensively through this fall, including headline shows at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater, Los Angeles’ Greek Theater and San Diego’s Rady Shell at Jacobs Park among many others.
Jinks will also join Luke Combs for select dates this year as part of his “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old” stadium tour.
Hailie Deegan NASCAR Xfinity Series Circuit of the Americas Stats: Saturday afternoon’s Focused Health 250 will mark Deegan’s debut at the 3.14-mile Texas road course.
Deegan, however, does own three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series starts at the 20-turn road course.
Her track-best result occurred during the 2021 Toyota Tundra 225 when she steered to a 14th-place finish after starting 28th for TRICON Garage (formerly David Gilliland Racing).
Hailie Deegan NASCAR Xfinity Series Career Stats: In five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Deegan has a career-best 13th-place finish after starting 20th for SS-GreenLight Racing with Jeff Lefcourt at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in October 2022.
In addition to five Xfinity Series starts, she has achieved 70 ARCA Menards Series starts, including three wins and 69 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series starts to her credit.
AM Minute: It was a relatively quiet weekend for the Statesville, N.C.-based team.
Both the AM Racing Dirt and ARCA Menards Series divisions were off this past weekend, along with the NASCAR Xfinity Series enjoying their first-weekend breather of 2024.
Weather dependent, the AM Racing Dirt Division will be back in action at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, N.C.
The ARCA Menards Series is enjoying a short sabbatical before their season resumes action at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on April 20.
Thanks For Your Support: With 15 percent of the 2024 Xfinity Series complete, AM Racing and Hailie Deegan would like to thank their associate marketing partners for their support: AirBox, Flying Circle, Klutch Vodka, Mechanix Wear, Monster Energy Drink, Mobil 1, Viva Tequila Seltzer and WIX Filters.
From the Pit Box:
Industry veteran Joe Williams Jr. is Hailie Deegan’s crew chief.
He will be crew chief for his 136th NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday and his fourth at Circuit of the Americas.
In his previous 135 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, he has collected one win (Auto Club Speedway | February 2022), eight top-five and 30 top-10 finishes.
Follow on Social Media:
For more on AM Racing, please visit AMRacingteam.com, like their Facebook page (AM Racing), or follow them on Instagram and X | Twitter @AMRacingNASCAR.
For more on Hailie Deegan, please visit hailiedeegan.com, like her Facebook page (HailieDeegan4), or follow her on Instagram (@hailiedeegan), YouTube and X | Twitter (@hailiedeegan).
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