NASCAR’s Hailie Deegan: ‘Catfished’ Fan Is Sending Death Threats to Her, Boyfriend

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NASCAR Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan explained in a YouTube video that she skipped last week’s race after she feared for her life because of an online stalker, via Zach Dean of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

As Deegan explained in a 15-minute video entitled, “Our Lives are Being Threatened,” someone created a fake online account purporting to be her and told another person that her boyfriend, Chase Cabre, was holding her “hostage.”

The victim of the catfishing then wrote an eight-page letter to Deegan’s truck team, David Gilliland Racing, stating he was dating the real driver while trying to rescue her.

“It kind of scared me a little bit, because I’d dealt with stalker situations before,” Deegan said in the video. “I went home that day, looked up the guy’s name on the note, and figured out that he was getting catfished by a fake Hailie Deegan account.”

The situation escalated with posts from the person in question threatening Deegan and Cabre.

“His official words were, not that he’s going to kill Chase, but that he’s going to come … and be the last thing Chase ever sees,” Deegan said.

She has since contacted police, the FBI and NASCAR security to help handle the situation.

It caused the 20-year-old to miss the Freedom 500 in Bradenton, Florida. Deegan, who was named the Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR Truck Series last year, is currently in 35th place through four starts in 2022.