Deegan is making her 15th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start for the inaugural race at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. Deegan will have the opportunity to practice and qualify for Friday night’s event with qualifying heat races on Friday evening.
The NCWTS has completed one dirt race so far this season – Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Deegan started 22nd and finished 19th in her first go-around in a truck on dirt at the half-mile track.
Deegan has experience on a dirt oval in an ARCA car. In February 2019, she won the ARCA West event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
The California native has competed at Knoxville one previous time. Last month, she participated in the SRX Racing Series at the Iowa dirt track. Deegan finished second in the event to Tony Stewart.
Two weeks ago at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Deegan finished 26th after a flat tire forced her to unexpectedly pit and trapped her one lap down.
Watch Hailie’s Deegan’s vlog recapping her race weekend at Pocono Raceway.
Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance F-150
Gray makes his 14th start of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.
At Pocono (Pa.) Raceway two weekends ago, Gray battled inside the top-10 early in the final stage, but tight handling on his F-150 continued to get worse during the long run and he finished in the 16th position.
The 22-year-old already has one truck start on dirt this season. At Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in March, Gray started 18th and finished 13th at the short-track.
Marcus Richmond will crew chief Gray’s No. 15 truck beginning this weekend at Knoxville. Richmond, a NCWTS veteran takes over the role from interim crew chief Seth Smith. Richmond has 10 wins and 17 pole awards in the series.
Donny Schatz will make his first career NASCAR national series start at “The Sprint Car Capital of the World” on Friday night behind the wheel of the Little Giant Ford F-150.
The Fargo, North Dakota native has an incredible resume at the half-mile dirt oval with 27 career wins, 17 of them with the World of Outlaws, and 10 Knoxville Nationals victories in 22 Nationals A-Main appearances.
The 10-time Outlaw champion scored his historic 300th series victory on June 18th at the Dubuque (Iowa) Fairgrounds Speedway. So far in 2021, Schatz has one win, 20 top-fives and 28 top-10s in 40 starts.
The Truck Series rookie will be paired with Chad Johnston for this weekend. Johnston has worked with David Gilliland and Ryan Preece in the No. 17 truck this season and earned his first career Truck win at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway with Preece.
