PHOENIX, AZ - MARCH 06: Hailie Deegan, driver of the #4 Toter Ford, enters her car before the ARCA Menards General Tire 150 on March 6, 2020 at Phoenix Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. (Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing)
Hailie Deegan will climb back in an ARCA Menards Series car Saturday for the General Tire 200 at Talladega. (Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing)

Hailie Deegan Looks To Apply Superspeedway Lessons To Talladega

www.arcaracing.com June 18, 2020

Hailie Deegan is hoping the old adage ‘sometimes you have to lose one before you can win one’ pays off this weekend.

The 18-year-old from Temecula, California, will bring the No. 4 DGR-Crosley Ford to Talladega SuperSpeedway for Saturday’s General Tire 200 in search of her first ARCA Menards Series victory.

It will be her second superspeedway race. Her first? A runner-up finish at Daytona International Speedway in February.

“I gained all of my information throughout the race,” Deegan told media this week in a virtual conference call. “I’ll be able to go to Talladega with that information already fresh in my head. I won’t have to go through the whole race and learn things and figure out how to apply them. When I am in certain situations I can apply them now from the beginning of the race on.

“There were so many different things I learned and can apply to Talladega.”

She also knows that superspeedways are a wild card in the championship chase. One bobble – by you or a driver around you – and your day can go from great to over in an instant.

“Our goal is always winning,” Deegan said. “If we can’t win the goal is always how do we make this the best day we can for the points. There’s a lot you can lose if you make stupid choices.”

Saturday’s General Tire 200, which will air live on FS1, will be the third race of the season and first race back for the series since Phoenix Raceway in March.

RELATED: PIT BOX: Superspeedway Racing On Deck At Talladega

“I am really excited to get back racing,” said Deegan, who was seventh at Phoenix and sits second in points, 12 behind Daytona winner Michael Self. “I haven’t been at the shop in a couple of months so I have been sitting in a bunch of different cars getting them ready for the racing that’s coming up because we are going to be racing back-to-back a lot.”

After Talladega, it’s a quick turnaround as the series heads to Pocono on June 26 for the General Tire #ANYWHEREISPOSSIBLE 200, and then to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis on Friday, July 3.

“I try not to get too ahead of myself because I am at the sim for the next race,” said Deegan. “Not the next next race, the one at the moment.”

That means Saturday. At Talladega. And back to racing.