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Will Rodgers Playing Role Of Coach To Hailie Deegan At Sonoma

www.arcaracing.com June 18, 2019

Road course ace Will Rodgers has teamed up with Hailie Deegan as a coach for this upcoming weekend’s K&N Pro Series West event at Sonoma Raceway.

Deegan competed in a spec miata race over the weekend, in which Rodgers taught her a multitude of things that come along with racing on road courses at the highest level.

“Ever since last year, kind of the way this year has been developing as far as my racing schedule, I‘ve had a lot of free time,” Rodgers told NASCAR.com. “Given my resume, a lot of people respect what I‘ve done on road courses, and I know I‘m a good coach from times I‘ve done it in the past, I figured why not try to help one of these regulars get better at Sonoma? A lot of these circle track drivers haven‘t adapted fully to road course racing or the race craft that has to take place.”

That led Rodgers to reaching out to several different teams to offer up his services. Bill McAnally wound up making a recommendation to Deegan’s camp, the two sparked a conversation, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Will is by far the best road-course racer in the K&N Series,” Deegan told NASCAR.com. “He‘s hands down the best driver. You see the difference between a circle-track and a road-course racer, and he knows how to do the road course stuff really (well). I feel like I‘m okay on road courses, but I can be a lot better. I want to come out in this K&N race swinging, especially since it’s in front of a lot of important people. If there‘s a race to do well in and one you don‘t want to to bad in, it‘s Sonoma. We‘re going to be in front of a lot of eyes and I want to perform, so I asked Will to help me out.”

“People bashed him saying, ‘oh, he races miatas?‘ but I raced one of those things and those guys get after it,” she said. “They‘re insanely talented drivers. It was a lot of fun and really competitive. I feel like I learned a ton, and got a lot of (seat) time. It‘s going to make me definitely a lot faster as a driver from how much I learned from him. Him coaching me through the track–(how much better does it get than to) look at the data off the guy who won there? I think we‘ll be in pretty good shape.”

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Rodgers pointed to a few different aspects of road course racing that he helped Deegan focus on in their weekend miata test, specifically maximizing the racing surface and positioning to pass all over the track instead of just one or two passing zones.

“A lot of unfamiliar drivers with road courses don‘t know how to maximize (the surface) to best position yourself for an overall lap, consistency and then race craft,” Rodgers said. “To really hone in on what that means with Hailie was an important part of our process […] I‘m trying to make sure she understands she can pass almost everywhere on the race track.”

Following the weekend learning experience, Deegan learned ways to get the most out of her race car as well as how to race the race track.

“I really learned how to maximize my braking points,” Deegan said. “It‘s a momentum track, and I never really looked at it from that perspective, certain points on the track to hit. I think that‘s something that‘ll help differentiate me from other K&N competitors and help me hopefully stand out […] if I do all that Will told me, we‘re going to have a good race. It‘s just making sure I minimize my mistakes, and those are easy to make.”

A fellow driver coaching another is not uncommon. But this instance is a bit different.

Rodgers will be competing in the race alongside Deegan, attempting to defend his victory from last season.

RELATED: Will Rodgers Looking To Defend Sonoma Victory, Partners With Levin Racing

The two, while close friends, know that it’ll be elbows up if it comes down to the final few corners racing for the win. What would Rodgers do if given the chance to make a last-corner pass on Deegan?

“I‘d say may the best driver win,” he said. “She‘s proven to do whatever she can to win and I respect that. I‘m in the same boat. We have a little bit of a different driving style given she‘s from the off-road scene, which I have a lot of experience in, but I have more in sports car racing, which is more of a gentle atmosphere. Both of us are willing to do whatever it takes to win, but hers might be a little more out of left field than mine.”

Deegan raved about Rodgers prowess and willingness to help out, and pointed to the 2017 battle between Rodgers and Kevin Harvick at Sonoma, where the 2014 champion bested the defending Sonoma winner, but they raced clean.

“I have a lot of respect for Will and what he does,” she said. “It‘s a whole different level of respect […] he could‘ve gone in there and hit Kevin, but he didn‘t. There‘s certain people and levels of respect that you have for them. I learned so much, it would almost be like a slap in the face to Will, and I‘d never (wreck) him, even for a win. I feel like I‘d have more respect coming home second to an amazing road course driver than trying to hit him for a win.”

The Procore 200 will go green at approximately 1:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 22 from Sonoma Raceway. FansChoice.TV will have live coverage of the event.

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