Do SRX runs prove Hailie Deegan is ready for a NASCAR promotion? How it could happen.

I’ll be the first admit, we just haven’t seen enough out of Hailie Deegan at the Craftsman Truck Series level to warrant a promotion to the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

But Thursday night, I heard all I needed to hear.

It was all right there in the postrace interview as Deegan came home second, in a backup car at that, to Tony Stewart in the SRX Racing event at Eldora Speedway. Some combination of the roaring crowd as she was interviewed, and the maturity and growth in her words told me, it's time.

“Getting out of that rut and being able to go and have something to build off of, have speed firing off in practice and qualifying (in the Truck Series) or heat races (in SRX) and I think that’s something I’m really trying to work on,” she said.

“Spending a lot of time watching footage, a lot of time in simulators, just studying as much as I can because I see the way my results have been going and I don’t want to keep it like that and I want to turn it around. I want to get better and I want to improve.”

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And there are signs she’s doing that, even outside of her SRX runs the last couple of weeks. The overall numbers in the truck remain ugly, with just one top 10 in 17 starts, but she did have back-to-back top 15s before being caught up in an accident Saturday at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Those finishes are five spots better than any she’d recorded in the previous six races.

Not impressed? Then how’s this for a sign?

Two weeks ago, I was in my living room watching the SRX event at Berlin. My 11-year-old daughter wandered in at the exact right time to see Deegan on screen and immediately paused, asking, “A girl that races in this?”

It was enough to make her stay and watch a few laps and now, guess where we’re going Saturday night? To watch some short-track racing at New Smyrna Speedway.

Name one other driver who could bring the Taylor Swift demographic, which is quite large if you haven't been paying attention, to the speedway. Heck, even the local bullring.

I'll wait.

And who said it was some kind of prerequisite to be good at in trucks before moving on to cars? Can you guess how many full-time Truck Series seasons the last six Cup Series champs — Joey Logano (twice), Kyle Busch (twice), Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson — have combined to run in their careers?

As many as me. And now three less than Deegan.

And I say three’s enough. Has she earned it? Maybe not.

I don’t care. My 11-year-old certainly doesn’t care. I don’t think team owners looking at prospective sponsorship deals, T-shirt sales and driver appearance fees likely care either. The real problem is a shortage of rides, something affecting several drivers up and down the NASCAR food chain.

But I think I can help with that. I think the aforementioned Stewart might be able to as well. And the dominoes may be already starting to fall that way.

Hear me out:

Front Row Motorsports extends Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland

We’ll get back to Deegan, I promise.

But this announcement this week — as well as Martin Truex’s decision to put off retirement another year — was a big first step in determining who’s driving where next season.

For one, it locked up McDowell, who was rumored to be linked to the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 car, should Aric Almirola decide to retire, and actually mean it this time. More on that in a minute.

But it also puts Zane Smith, the reigning truck Series champion who was splitting seat time with Gilliland this year, back on the market and clearly, Smith is ready to make the jump. Or any jump.

Hold that thought.

Noah Gragson asks for release from Legacy Motor Sports after suspension

I swear, if I get one email talking about a boycott…

I’m not even going there.

It’s been a disastrous rookie year by almost any measure for Gragson, whose debut season came to a premature end after a social media incident, a suspension and now an outright release.

With Legacy moving over from Chevrolet to Toyota, and with Truex Jr. coming back to keep the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 next season, all signs point to John Hunter Nemechek coming back up from the Xfinity Series to take the seat vacated by Gragson.

Nemechek is currently tied atop the Xfinity standings with Austin Hill, yet another driver that likely deserves a Cup ride next season. Hill may very well end up in the Kaulig Racing No. 31 after current driver Justin Haley announced he’d join Rick Ware Racing in 2024.

Will Aric Almirola retire or not?

This is the $64,000 question. And the answer could affect Smith, Deegan and any number of others.

Should Almirola decide to return, there’s not a lot to discuss. About the only other Ford seat that could become available at the Cup level is the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21, but recent reports and indications are that Harrison Burton may get a third year to prove himself.

But should Almirola decide to hang it up, and stick with that decision this time, it presents a couple of options for Stewart and SHR.

Smith is certainly one. But, what if Stewart was to look internally?

Last year, after a disappointing second season, Cole Custer was sent back down to the Xfinity Series in favor of bringing Ryan Preece into the fold to drive the No. 41 Cup Series car. Custer has responded with a pair of wins in the No. 00 and he currently sits fourth in the Xfinity standings.

Is that enough to warrant a recall should Almirola’s ride be vacant? Maybe.

For argument’s sake, let’s say it is. Custer’s return would leave open one of the two best Ford Xfinity rides in the garage with teammate Riley Herbst likely to stay in the other after a strong season.

Again, Smith would clearly be a great option, but I know another Ford driver who could emerge as a candidate and what better tryout than running down Stewart on the dirt Thursday?

That’s right, why not Deegan? The relationship with Stewart is there, the relationship with Ford is there and a spot in the manufacturer’s best ride in the Xfinity Series is a heck of a make-or-break, sink-or-swim test.

And all it would take is adding a couple of zeroes to Deegan’s merchandise.

She’d certainly add a few to Stewart-Haas’ bottom line.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Hailie Deegan, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and how Tony Stewart fits in