By: Mitchell Breuer

As racing has returned to action over the last month, one driver a lot of people have been keeping an eye on has had to wait for her opportunity to get back on track.

Hailie Deegan will finally get back behind the wheel this weekend as the ARCA Menards Series returns to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, June 20. While many would think the restrictor plate track, due to its unpredictable nature, may be a rough place to get the season back going, Deegan sees it differently.

“I am glad we are going back racing at Talladega because that is what we practiced for at the beginning of the year,” Deegan said in a Zoom press conference Wednesday.“So, I feel like if there is anything in my skill set that I am freshened up on, it is going to be superspeedway racing.”

Deegan has already seen success at superspeedways, as in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, she was able to drive her No. 4 Ford to a second-place finish.

While ARCA will race at five tracks in six weeks, Deegan is committed to focusing one event at a time as action resumes.

“I kind of just go one week at a time because I don’t get too ahead of myself,” Deegan said. “I am always at the sim for the next race. I am always getting ready for that next race, not the next-next race, the one at the moment and, I think it is just taking it one race at a time and checking that box and moving to the next one and forgetting about that last race we just had.”

With this mentality, there are problems Deegan runs into, especially in a time where scheduling changes are being consistent. The most recent of which came Tuesday with the July 15 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway moving to a July 11 event at Kentucky Speedway.

“It has been hard not knowing where you are going to be racing at,” Deegan said. “If we are racing at a road course, I want to go get practice on a road course in general because I have not been road course racing in a while. So, I’m like, ‘Well, I do not know which road course we are going to be racing at’, I do not know anything or when it is going to be. I do not know which road course to go drive on, to go get practice on or what I should be doing. Or, if we are going short track racing or big track racing. Should I go do a super late model race to go get practice? We do not know, so I am kind of winging it at the moment.”

When Deegan gets back to racing, the immediate focus will be on winning; however, she does realize there is a bigger picture to be paying attention to.Even though the season is only two races in, Deegan finds herself second in points and knows she will have to “race smart” to keep her positive standing.

“Honestly, I am racing for wins but, I have to keep that championship mentality in the back of my head,” Deegan said.“I am going to race hard for wins but, I am not going to do anything stupid to put me in a bad position, where it is going to take us out of a championship and in that long run.”

Deegan currently sits 12 points behind the current points leader, Michael Self.