Hailie Deegan Wins 2023 NMPA Most Popular Driver Award

For the third consecutive year, NASCAR Ford driver Hailie Deegan earned the 2023 NMPA Most Popular Driver Award in the Truck Series.

Deegan was the first woman to win the award in the Truck Series with her first victory in 2021, continuing the streak by winning the 2022 award as well. She was also the only Ford driver to earn a Most Popular Driver award this year, as Chase Elliott was chosen by fans in the Cup Series, and Justin Allgaier earned the honors in the Xfinity Series.

During the 2023 racing season, Deegan drove the No. 13 Ford F-150 race truck for ThorSport. In 23 starts, she earned two top-10 finishes, 13 top-20 finishes, and led a total of two laps. She finished 19^th in the overall Truck Series championship, with an average starting position of 19.2 and a finishing position of 21.

Deegan concluded her Truck Series career upon conclusion of the 2023 racing season, and looking ahead, she will take to the track in the Xfinity Series. So far, she has one Xfinity Series start under her belt, when she drove the No. 07 NASCAR Ford at Las Vegas in October 2022, finishing 13^th.

Next year, Deegan will take control of the No. 15 NASCAR Ford Mustang in the Xfinity Series, fielded by AMR Racing. She has signed a multiyear contract with the NASCAR Ford team, and her first outing as a fulltime Xfinity Series driver will be at Daytona in February.

“We’ve had some really good moments; we’ve had some really not-so-good moments,” Deegan said of her Truck Series efforts during her 2024 season announcement. “So I think just moving on from that and starting fresh in the Xfinity car and with this new team and building something really great from there.”

Deegan has been part of the Ford Performance development program since 2019. Prior to that, she raced in the ARCA Series, where she earned three victories.

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