INDIANAPOLIS — The president of Haas Factory Team said the organization has had conversations with Hailie Deegan for one of its two Xfinity rides for next season and that “we believe there’s more in her.”
Haas Factory Team is the offshoot of Stewart-Haas Racing, which will cease operations next year.
Haas Factory Team announced Saturday that it will field the No. 41 Cup car for Cole Custer next year. The organization also will have two Xfinity teams in 2025.
Joe Custer, president of Haas Factory Team, confirmed conversations with Deegan, who is out of a ride after parting ways with AM Racing earlier this month.
This was Deegan’s first season in the Xfinity Series. The 23-year-old didn’t start driving stock cars until seven years ago. She had success in the ARCA Series but not as much in three Truck seasons. She scored the best debut by a female driver in both the Truck Series (2020) and Xfinity Series (2022).
She moved to AM Racing ahead of this season. Deegan’s best finish was 12th in 17 starts. The team replaced here at Chicago with Joey Logano. AM Racing and Deegan each announced after Chicago that they had parted ways. Josh Berry is driving for the team in Saturday’s Xfinity race at Indianapolis (3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network).
“We believe there’s more in her and we want to be a part of that,” Joe Custer said Saturday in response to a question from NBC Sports about Deegan being a candidate for a Haas Factory Team ride. “But that’s for future conversations.”
Custer said the goal for the Haas Factory Team is to win.
“The situation with us at Haas Factory Team is we have to win at that level,” he said. “We are willing to look at all options as far as drivers go. Maybe somebody that is already in the sport. Maybe somebody that’s a Cup driver that comes down.
“We’ve got to put cars in the winner’s circle. We’ve got to sort out our equipment because our business model is reliant on having technical partners to keep the program healthy.
“So, if we don’t win and we are not a leader on the track, then our other teammates … they find it hard to believe that we can deliver the kind of data and leadership for them. So, it’s a different model.
“Our game plan is for drivers to come into those teams as well as ours. Whether they go from theirs to ours, maybe, maybe not. All options are open. We envision eight successful Xfinity teams (the two Haas Factory Team cars and other technical partners) showing up to every race next year and the year after with a high level of confidence and the ability to win.”
Custer also talked about the opportunities with the CW Network airing all the Xfinity Series races beginning in 2025.
“We’re focused on the CW relationship, a seven-year program,” Custer said.
Deegan, with her social media presence can further help promote the sport. She has more than 1.6 million followers on Instagram. NASCAR has 2.9 million followers on Instagram. She has nearly 1 million followers on Facebook. NASCAR has 5.4 million followers on Facebook.
Custer also said Saturday that the team had made an offer to Riley Herbst to drive for the organization. But Herbst, who is with the Stewart-Haas Racing Xfinity team, is considered a candidate for a Cup ride for next season. If so, he would be the third driver from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Xfinity program to move to a Cup ride, joining Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer.
