Hailie Deegan is clearly more than just a one-hit wonder, as she racked up her second career win Thursday night in the K&N Pro Series West Star Nursery 100 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's dirt track. Though the driver of the No. 19 Toyota started out eighth out of 19 in the season opener, she fought her way to the front of the pack, and despite being four seconds behind driver Jagger Jones with 10 laps to go, she pulled off an incredible last-lap pass to eke out an epic win.
How about that final lap?!?!@HailieDeegan & @jaggerjones98 battling for that ? #KNWEST | @LVMotorSpeedway pic.twitter.com/oYtt4K44vT
— NASCAR Regional (@NASCARRegional) March 1, 2019
Read More: Hailie Deegan Wins in Epic Fashion, Racking up Her First Win in the NASCAR K&N West Series
According to Deegan, the amount of lapped cars in the race seriously contributed to the effectiveness of her final lap push.
"In the end we wouldn't have caught him if it weren't for the lapped cars," Deegan told NASCAR.com. "And they got in his way. If I was him, I'd be mad. Really mad. But some peoples losses are other peoples wins and we ended up getting it done. I knew what we had to do to win. I knew it was going to come down to the last lap again and we made it happen."
Deegan may be celebrating her win now, but before the race, she was not as confident in her chances.
"Mostly just me working on my lines," she said. "The line I was trying to run didn't work for my car, so I had to move around and find which line worked. Once we found that, fixed the car, the car was great. The track was still icy, and we still weren't good, but it was better than everyone else."
Back in October, the 17-year-old California native made NASCAR history when she became the first female driver to win a race in NASCAR's developmental K&N Pro Series. If she didn't grab anyone's attention then, she's definitely got it now.
. @HailieDeegan DID NOT even (Bump n Run).. She drove under him.. It was Hailie that was hit in the last corner, but she had GREAT car control and saved it and WON.. https://t.co/2ORucxsbBZ
— Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) March 1, 2019
. @HailieDeegan is the REAL DEAL .. Congrats Hailie. https://t.co/1yZ1AMmXjE
— Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) March 1, 2019
My plan of going to sleep early was foiled by @HailieDeegan racing @LVMotorSpeedway tonight. She just got the W. Congrats! ? @BMR_NASCAR @ToyotaRacing @NAPARacing @MonsterEnergy
— Michael Waltrip (@MW55) March 1, 2019
Heck yes! Just saw the news that @HailieDeegan won right here in Vegas...on the dirt! She?s the real deal. ??
— Jamie Little (@JamieLittleTV) March 1, 2019
Congrats on the #KNWest ? tonight @HailieDeegan! Way to get it done on the dirt!
Not sure how a 17 year-old celebrates in Vegas though. ? https://t.co/DZlpUBu9MO
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) March 1, 2019