Hailie Deegan, who has been behind the wheel of the No. 15 Ford Mustang for AM Racing in each of the opening 17 races of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, will not be in the car this weekend’s The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course. Joey Logano, who won last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Nashville Superspeedway, will join the AM Racing driver roster for the event.
AM Racing made the announcement via a press release on Monday afternoon.
Logano will carry primary sponsorship from Klutch Vodka in the event.
The team will look to gain feedback from Logano this weekend in an effort to help them further their NASCAR Xfinity Series program going forward.
“The level of competition in the Xfinity Series is as competitive as it’s ever been,” Wade Moore, AM Racing team president said in a press release. “It is our goal at AM Racing to field a competitive race team through our technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing and provide any of our drivers the best equipment and opportunity to be successful on track each weekend.
“With that being said, we haven’t had the success on track that we were hoping for in the first half of the season. When the opportunity to have Joey in the car at Chicago became a possibility, we felt we needed to take advantage of the knowledge and feedback that a two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion could provide to our teams’ growth.”
Moore continued by saying, “We intend to take the feedback and data from the Chicago race weekend and apply it to building better race cars each week so AM Racing can have a stronger second half of the season.”
Klutch Vodka, which is an existing AM Racing team partner, supported AM Racing’s decision to bring Logano in as the team looks to improve its performance in the second half of the season.
“We support AM Racing and we’re happy to have Joey Logano behind the wheel of the No. 15 Klutch Vodka Ford Mustang at the Chicago Street Course,” Klutch Vodka CEO Anthony S. Quattrochi and his Co-Founder, fiancé Brandy Wong said in a joint statement. “His experience and talent will be a great asset to the AM Racing team this weekend and no doubt will present the opportunity to introduce the Klutch Vodka brand to new race fans as well.”
Deegan, 22, has suffered through a rough rookie campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season. The California native has just two top-15 finishes this season — a 15th-place finish at Las Vegas and 12th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway — to go along with eight finishes outside of the top-30.
Following this past weekend’s event at Nashville Superspeedway, Deegan ranked 27th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings, and she sat 248 points below the Playoffs cutline. By missing this weekend’s race, Deegan will officially become ineligible for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, unless she is somehow granted a waiver by NASCAR.
However, Grant Enfinger not being granted a waiver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after missing one race due to sponsorship issues in 2021 would seemingly be the precedent in these situations.
Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished eighth in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 street race on the Chicago Street Course. Last season, NASCAR rules forbid any drivers running double duty at the Chicagi Street Course in an effort to give every driver in the field the same experience level heading into that race weekend.
For 2024, NASCAR removed the rule limiting race participation for drivers at the Chicago Street Course, which will allow full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers and NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers to compete in multiple races this weekend. Logano looks forward to helping out the AM Racing team while also logging additional laps on the Chicago Street Course ahead of Sunday’s Grant Park 165.
“Racing in the rain on Chicago’s Street Course last year was a challenge within itself. Any extra seat time is always a positive for unique tracks such as this one,” Logano said. “Driving the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars are a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to climbing behind the wheel of the No. 15 AM Racing Ford Mustang, with high hopes to wheel it to the front.”
Along with Logano, the other drivers scheduled to run double duty this weekend include Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Suarez, and Josh Bilicki.
