By Neha, Dwivedi, Staff Writer

Natalie Decker has already been out of regular rotation in NASCAR, especially after pregnancy, and now the trail of results points toward her stepping away from the Tier 3 series altogether. Nothing in her recent runs has turned into anything that holds for long.

Last year, after giving birth to her son Levi, Decker made only one start in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Daytona, and that run ended in a P22 finish. This season, she returned for two starts in the same series. The first came at Daytona in the opening race of the schedule, where she finished P33. Ten weeks later, she returned to Talladega and finished in the same position.

She also stepped into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this year, which marked her first appearances there since the 2022 season, when she attempted to race at Talladega but failed to qualify. This time, she made her Truck Series return at Watkins Glen last weekend and finished P36. Then, on Friday at Dover, the outcome again stayed in the same range, ending in P34.

Except on Friday, while competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ECOSAVE 200 for Reaume Brothers Racing, Natalie Decker decided that she would not return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after the race. Her Dover run was derailed early by penalties on track. She picked up a pass-through penalty for a starting violation during Stage 1, and later officials placed her under a black flag for failing to meet the minimum required speed.

Those calls forced her crew into urgent adjustments, and what followed spilled over the radio in real time. Decker said, “You guys I’m trying my best to hold my sh-t together but I don’t want to keep doing this,” as the issues stacked up, according to the team audio.

And when the team and when Josh Reaume gave her an option that she could bring the No. 22 Ford F-150 back to the garage, reminding her of the Mental Health Awareness Month paint scheme tied to Nico’s Hope for Life Foundation, Decker said, “I feel like a f*cking failure if I do that,” and warned that she could be suspended if she kept talking.

After that, she told team owner Josh Reaume over the radio, “I’m sorry, Josh, I’m not going to come back to the Truck Series… I’m staying in the O’Reilly Series, this series f*cking sucks,”

A few seconds later, she added, “The amount of hate I’m gonna get online… I’m not ready.”

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At that point, NASCAR insiders said concerns began to circulate around whether she may have been dealing with an anxiety or panic response inside the truck during the race.

The incident quickly spilled into social media, where Decker maintains an audience of roughly 200,000 on Instagram and over 300,000 on Facebook, and reactions spread across platforms in real time.

Hours before the race ended, Natalie Decker had already posted a video on Instagram presenting a calm outlook heading into the weekend. “It’s going to be a good day, because there are so many positive vibes from everyone,” Decker said. “So, I’m just excited. I’m feeling really calm, which I like.” 

On the statistical side, her 2026 season across NASCAR national divisions shows an average finish of 35.0, with 101 laps completed out of a possible 274 across two Truck Series starts.

Earlier in the year, she also faced scrutiny after criticism from fans over a photo taken with comedian Bert Kreischer, where she pulled down her fire suit.

She has dealt with repeated criticism from fans and competitors across her NASCAR tenure, and the Dover weekend added another flashpoint to her career that has often moved between the track and everything around it, sometimes with the track itself becoming the secondary story.