NASCAR insider reacts to Natalie Decker’s meltdown at Dover: ‘I honestly commend her’

“All these emotions are coming at you of shame and pride, and then you start thinking that, your brain almost spirals, and you start thinking about, ‘Oh, well, these people on social media are going to say this, or I’m letting this sponsor down, or this person.’ For somebody like Natalie, who’s been very outward about not caring, I think that if that’s the realization that she was having in this moment, that’s why the emotions were even heavier because she was admitting to herself that she was in over her head. For that, I honestly commend her.”

Natalie Decker was ‘just trying to survive’

On Friday, Decker was driving the No. 22 truck in the ECOSAVE 200 at Dover, and she seemed upset about the issues with her car. Things got so bad that Decker expressed her frustrations with her team.

“I’m just trying my best to hold my s**t together but I don’t want to keep doing this,” Natalie Decker said, while later adding, “I’m just trying to survive.”

Decker’s team told her that if she didn’t want to continue with the race, she should come in. That led to her sounding off about the Truck Series. “There’s just so many s**tty things that I could say right now,” Decker said, “and I’m just trying to keep it together, about the f–***ing director of the series.”

Ultimately, Decker finished 34th at Dover. In the previous week, the 28-year-old finished 36th at Watkins Glen. In her NASCAR career, Decker has competed in 34 Truck Series races and earned one top-10 finish. She has also raced in 15 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events, and her best finish was 18th at Daytona in 2024.