Hailie Deegan reveals issue during oval testing: "My head trying to rip off!"

Hailie Deegan struggled with an unexpected issue in her first Indy NXT oval test at Nashville Superspeedway. The 23-year-old driver, moving to open-wheel racing for the 2025 season, shared the moment on a recent YouTube vlog.

During the video, she discussed the unusual circumstances that pushed her to abort testing and return to the pits while carrying out high-speed runs on the 1.33-mile oval course.

"We did the install lap for the gears and stuff, but I haven't got to really make a lap just yet. I'm having an issue with my head trying to rip off on the straightaways," Deegan explained

"Air is getting under my helmet and I think it was my seating position that I was in the car. So we worked on it a little bit, working on the header, working on a few things."

Moving from open-wheel racing, Deegan hasn't got too much experience with her helmet being open to the elements. Usually for her, a windscreen would deflect the onslaught of fast moving air, but now in this IndyCar development series there's only a mere halo surrounding the driver's upper extremities.

The young driver elaborated:

 "Everyone I talked to goes, 'Oh yeah, my first year, I had that same issue.' I thought I fixed it for the road courses, but things are gonna be exaggerated when you're going 190 mph on an oval.

"I made one lap, I wasn't even up to speed, just getting the tires warmed and stuff and it grabbed under my helmet and started strangling me back. I was like, 'Okay guys, coming in. I'm bringing it to you.'"

Hailie Deegan, AM Racing, VIVA Tequila Seltzer Ford Mustang

Photo by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images

In a previous interview with IndyCar, she commented on the move to an open cockpit.

“It's definitely odd,” she admitted. “I could tell you that it's different not having a windshield. That’s something when you race at Daytona, you don't think about.

"On this side of things, you feel like your head's going to rip off. That’s something that I'm definitely having to get used to. Not having the windshield and being able to really feel everything is unique.”

Deegan is racing with HMD Motorsports this year after she left NASCAR's development ladder. During the Nashville tests, she completed 127 laps and finished 15th on the timesheet out of 19 drivers.

"Well, guys, we just got done here at Nashville," she said. "This was my first oval test in the NXT car. It was awesome. It's so much fun. It was a lot to build up to, confidence wise.

"I knew that today I was gonna have to go out here and be able to hold it wide open to be on pace and we were able to build up to that.

"Had some slight dilemmas in the morning, that we had to figure out what's inside the car.

"But once you got that all sorted, the car was super comfortable, super comfortable on the inside, setup wise, everything. So I feel like we got a really good balance on it."