As the ARCA Menards Series West championship starts to take place, Hailie Deegan has slowly begun making her way into the conversation. However, she has addressed things that Bill McAnally, the driver, along with her team, needs to figure out before the final stretch of the season. 

The No. 16 Bill McAnally driver so far has competed in seven races out of the scheduled 13. She currently stands in seventh place in the driver's championship and so far has finished four out of the seven races in the top ten. Despite being out of the top five in the ARCA Menards West Series, Deegan is not fully out of contention. 

While talking to the media pre-race at Sonoma, Hailie Deegan opened up about how the team has been working towards making the car better in various aspects. She said, 

"Yeah, I think that’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out, is the longevity side of things. I feel like me and my teammate have struggled with that a little bit so trying to figure out what works balance wise."

Deegan explained that the focus was not on speed, but to ensure the car remains competitive throughout the entire race. She wants her team, Bill McAnally Racing, to find a setup that maintains that balance, both for her as well as for her ARCA teammate Mason Massey.

"I think its more so how we’re setting up the cars in the beginning. I think we’re too good in the beginning to where we’re not worried about the end long enough, so we’ve been trying to change that around a little bit, try some different stuff, see what lasts longer throughout the races," she added, as reported by Charlie Marlow on X.

In her other attempts at the series, in the last two races, Deegan failed to complete the full race as she crashed at the Tri-City race as she tried to avoid getting collected in an accident.

On the other hand, at Sonoma, where she set out to make history, Deegan's dreams came to a crushing end. 

Hailie Deegan’s bid for a win ends early at Sonoma

During the General Tire 150 race at Sonoma Raceway, the No. 16 driver had started the race on a positive note, looking forward to getting her team their first win at the track. Her weekend started on a positive note, as during the practice session she put in the ninth fastest lap. 

After the practice session, she was forced to take on new power plants and a transmission. This caused Deegan to qualify for the race dead last. However, despite the changes, she managed to complete only 29 laps out of the 47 laps. 

While talking to the media post-race, she expressed her disappointment. 

“Just a frustrating day. Our Columbia Bank Chevy had decent pace in practice, we were pretty happy with it, and had a motor seized up on us at the end of the session. We weren’t able to qualify and took the green with the backup engine skipping. Disappointing for sure. I always enjoy racing at Sonoma and was excited about the day. Our teammates had speed today, so we’ll lean on them for some notes going to Portland.”  (via BMRNAPA Racing)

Heading to Portland, Hailile Deegan and the No. 16 crew will be looking forward to regrouping and bouncing back from the setback

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason