Hailie Deegan wins NASCAR Truck Series "Most Popular Driver" award for the first time

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    One of NASCAR's youngest female race car drivers, Hailie Deegan has been named the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series "Most Popular Driver", earning the award for the first time.

In her rookie season (2021), Deegan piloted the No. 1 Ford F-150 for David Gilliland Racing, scoring one top-10 finish, and achieving a solid 20.7 average finish throughout the season. Considering Deegan's exact circumstances her on track performance was actually fairly decent, even though those numbers may seem a bit degrading without situational context.

While David Gilliland Racing is certainly not the best race team in the series, it's not the worst. This organization provided a landing place for Deegan, and took advantage of her ever growing popularity which is in part due to her gender.

Hailie Deegan, like many other drivers in the racing world comes from a family of motorsports knowledge. Her father, Brian Deegan is best known for his immense success as a motorcyclist in Motocross and Supercross. 

Hailie Deegan's name certainly didn't hurt when it came to growing a fan base, although it was necessary that she found success. Deegan, as talented as she is, became the first female driver to win an K&N Pro Series West race, making history in 2018 and 2019 before advancing.

Hailie Deegan, who is only 20 years old, has a vast career ahead of her, assuming her talent and funding persists. In terms of sponsorship, earlier this year Deegan was named the No. 1 Female Athlete in sponsorship value, not only in auto-racing, but within sports in general. Hailie Deegan's ever-growing popularity should not hurt her chances of funding, rather it should help. 

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