Looking ahead, we’ll see how the ARCA season shakes out. But Deegan clearly has the chops to grow into a successful NASCAR competitor. She just needs to take it slowly for it to work.
After her ARCA year in 2020, she can move on to Trucks for a year or two, then a year or two in Xfinity, then on to Cup — Stewart-Haas should have an open Cup seat for Deegan by that point, and she’ll only be about 23 years old with a long career ahead of her. More importantly, she’ll have learned the lessons she needs to learn in these lower series.
For those who doubt Deegan because of how Danica Patrick’s career turned out (which isn’t fair to begin with, by the way), please note that Danica didn’t have the history or knowledge of stock cars that Deegan does, so there is no need to bring up the D word every time that Hailie’s name comes up in the news. Repeat after me: They are two different people.
I wish Deegan luck, as this sport is tough on everyone, and she’ll have more sets of eyes on her every action than any other driver in ARCA this year, which coincidentally should be a big boost to the ARCA series’ overall popularity with fans in 2020.
Suarez has work to do
After being In limbo up until the last minute this off-season, Daniel Suarez got the good news that he will be in a Cup ride this year, for Gaunt Brothers Racing.
The bad news is he still has to race his way into the Daytona 500. Justin Haley and Brendan Gaughan locked in the first two “open” spots on the grid, so Suarez has to battle Timmy Hill, JJ Yeley, Chad Finchum and Reed Sorensen for one of the final two spots in the Duels.
Suarez is arguably the best driver of the five, but a wreck in the Duels at Daytona can ruin his chances to qualify. So it will be a nerve-wracking Thursday for Mr. Suarez and his “amigos” fan base.
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Matt Myftiu can be reached on Twitter @MattMyftiu, or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
