Hailie Deegan scored a career-best finish of 12th during the April 20 Xfinity Series race at Talladega and looked to carry the momentum of that performance into the April 27 Dover race. Unfortunately, any hopes of a good day at The Monster Mile came to an abrupt halt early when the AM Racing driver caused a crash on Lap 5.
“Outside four, half-back, outside, outside, outside,” Deegan’s spotter relayed on the team radio, describing the approaching No. 4 car of Dawson Cram. Seconds later, the spotter’s tone noticeably changed after the incident. “Alright, lock it down here. Going to be right front, left front, guys.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was trying to get up,” Deegan said.
“Yeah, 10-4,” the spotter replied. “We’ll take a look at it here.”
A few minutes later, the driver again accepted responsibility.
“Sorry about that,” she apologized. “I thought I could get up real quick. Was a half-up. I think I just might have taken too long and the hole closed.”
JJ Yeley Blames Dawson Cram Not Hailie Deegan for Crash
While Hailie Deegan made it clear over her team radio she was responsible for starting the crash that caused enough damage to end the day of JJ Yeley, the veteran driver didn’t blame the Xfinity rookie for the incident. Instead, he directed his frustration at Dawson Cram, first over the team radio and then in his post-race interview.
“I’m fine. What a dumbass move by the 4,” Yeley said over the radio.
A few minutes later during his visit with the media, he again blamed Cram.
“I followed him from the start. He was having a hard time holding his lane,” Yeley noted. “His racetrack awareness isn’t there. If he has to rely on his spotter to know where cars are, he just doesn’t as a race car driver.
“He clearly could see the 15 was where she was at. Again, we were early in the race and she was dropping like an anchor. Why he would try to force the situation like that. Take out a couple of race cars. It’s not his first time doing it. At some point, he’ll figure it out or someone will have to figure it out for him.”
Fox Cameras Missed Deegan Starting Incident
Fox’s NASCAR coverage has deservedly come under criticism over the last several years due to a variety of issues, including the cameras missing action on the track. This year, seemingly more than ever, those cameras have been zoomed in so close and missed multiple accidents where there is absolutely zero footage showing where everything started.
It’s unfortunate for fans watching at home to miss what happened at Dover, but even more-so for Cram, who was blamed for the incident. He addressed the situation after the race.
“Since there’s no replay, you can very clearly see me check up when it became obvious the 15 thought she was clear and wasn’t,” the driver posted on X, including a video of the data during the incident. “Hate to see cars are torn up but that was a racing deal.”
Deegan finished 31st.
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