American Motorsports racing sensation Hailie Deegan joined the Indy NXT championship ahead of the 2025 season. After an underwhelming debut season in the IndyCar ladder series, the 24-year-old recently came out and confirmed that she’s signed a new contract for the 2026 season.
Hailie Deegan is the daughter of motocross and supercross legend Brian Deegan, and much like her father, started her motorsports career on dirt tracks. However, she moved into tarmac racing and raced in the NASCAR Xfinity (now O’Reilly) and Truck series.
After racing with AM Racing for half a season in the Xfinity Series in 2024, Deegan decided on making the switch to the American open wheel racing series. She raced for Toney Driver Development in the Formula Regional Americas Championship in late 2024, which was her first experience in an open-wheel car, and joined HMD Motorsport to race in the 2025 Indy NXT season.
However, given how new Deegan was to the world of open-wheel racing, she struggled in the Indy NXT championship and failed to finish a single race in the Top 10. Her best result was a P11 finish in the second race at Laguna Seca, and she finished the season 14th in the championship.
Questions looked over Deegan’s racing plans for the 2026 season after an underwhelming 2025. However, the American recently came out on her YouTube channel and confirmed that she has signed a contract for the upcoming motorsport season. However, Hailie Deegan did not reveal the team or the series she will be racing in.
“I’m excited because I’m going to be able to make my race announcement next week. I kind of have everything lined up. Uh, going to film some stuff, get some footage put together. I’m not going to tell you guys what it is just yet, but I am announcing it,” said Hailie Deegan
“So, I know you guys have been waiting for that and should be super excited because I’m super excited about it. Just signed my contract and everything and will be racing full-time this year. So, full-time what? Not going to tell you, but I’ll let you know soon,” she added
IndyCar insider ruled out Hailie Deegan’s return to Indy NXT for 2026
IndyCar insider Marshall Pruett came out in November 2025 on the Racer’s Mailbag and answered fans’ questions. A fan summarised Hailie Deegan’s 2025 Indy NXT season and raised questions around the 24-year-old’s future in the American open wheel racing series. Marshall Pruett responded as he said,
“The latest is everything you described. One and done. Graham Rahal made it plain in a call last week: You can teach a road racer to be an excellent oval races, but it’s damn near impossible to take an oval racer and train them to be an excellent road racer.”
“She tried to take her off-road and oval knowledge and add road racing to it, and there’s no doubt she could improve year by year if she wanted to make it her future, but it was never going to happen all at once in a single season of NXT. I don’t know where she’ll go next, but it isn’t NXT.”
Soon after the 2025 Indy NXT season ended, rumors of Deegan making a return to NASCAR in 2026 started circling the paddock.
Edited by Pranay Bhagi
