Hailie Deegan initially might not have realized the danger she faced Saturday, but it now is clear for all to see.
The NASCAR Camping World Series driver shared video of the truck fire she survived Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Fr8 208. The blaze started after Colby Howard bumped Deegan, pushing her truck into Ross Chastain's and causing a tire rub, which later caught on fire. The video Deegan shared on her YouTube channel contains a section in which she discussed the incident shortly after it happened.
" ... I knew something was wrong because the moment we went out, I was like, 'Something’s not right right guys,'" Deegan said, as seen in the video. "And my back started getting really hot. We ended up actually catching on fire, and I think it was on fire for a couple laps because my back starting getting super hot.
"They figured out that I was on fire, because I can't see the truck. So I was like, 'Screw it, I'm going to drive back. If I can get to pit road, they can pit the fire out, maybe we can keep going.' I made it to pit road, it was really on fire at that point. And there was a bunch of black smoke and stuff. They hit it with the fire extinguisher.
"It blew out the black smoke and fire extinguisher smoke into my air hose and throughout the whole truck, and I couldn't see anything. So, I inhaled that and I started choking. I started not being able to get more air in, like suffocating.
"I started to look for the window net, I couldn't see anything. I couldn't get anymore air, because it was just smoky. And, JC ended up opening the window net and pulling me out."
Medical officials checked out Deegan at the infield care center, and she emerged relatively unscathed.
Video of the fire itself didn't look too scary, but the experience the second-year Camping World Series driver recounted is terrifying.
Although Deegan failed to finish the race and is languishing in 33rd place in the standings, the silver lining is things could have been much worse.
