It was a tough day at the office for NASCAR driver Natalie Decker as she melted down in her vehicle mid-race before eventually parking it and dropping out.
Decker was competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware on Friday.
The 30-year-old mother was struggling to keep up the pace in her No. 22 Ford truck during the race thanks to a number of penalties.
At the drop of the green flag, Decker got hit with a pass-through penalty due to a starting violation. Then, on lap 81, she was black-flagged by NASCAR officials for failing to maintain minimum track speed.
What followed has been characterized as a ‘rage-quit’ moment as Decker blasted her team and NASCAR officials before announcing that she was done with racing in the Truck Series altogether.
‘You guys, I’m trying my best to hold my s*** together, but I don’t want to keep doing this,’ Decker was heard saying after the pass through penalty.
NASCAR driver Natalie Decker had a stunning meltdown mid-race at Dover on Friday
Decker was hit with multiple penalties throughout her race in the Truck Series this week
Eventually, the 30-year-old mother decided to park her car and ended her race early
Her crew chief did his best to keep her composed, saying, ‘You’re okay, you’re okay. We’ll just do this pass-through and get after it.’
Later, the crew chief suggested that if Decker didn’t want to continue racing after the end of the first stage, she could bring the car in.
Decker replied, ‘There’s just so many s***ty things that I could say right now, and I’m just trying to keep it together about the f***ing director of the series.’
When her crew chief once again offered the idea of parking the truck, Decker said, ‘I feel like a f***ing failure if I do that.’
She continued, ‘There’s so many things I want to say and I’m probably going to get f***ing suspended, you have no idea.’
Ultimately, she felt she’d had enough and addressed a message to team owner Josh Rheaume.
‘I’m sorry, Josh. I’m not going to come back to the Truck Series,’ she said, adding, ‘I’m staying in the O’Reilly Series. This series f***ing sucks.’
Her final message on the radio was, ‘The amount of hate I’m gonna get online for this is just gonna be insane. I’m not ready.’
Decker said that she wanted to quit the Truck Series and nearly criticized organizers
She also expressed fear over the impending negative social media comments she’d receive
Social media reaction was largely unkind to Decker, with some fans saying that she should give up racing altogether.
‘Natalie Decker has no business on a race track and she embarrasses everyone every time she speaks. Beyond over her existence in NASCAR,’ wrote one user on X.
Another wondered, ‘Why would anyone, outside of guys who want to sponsor an attractive race car driver, want to sponsor Natalie Decker after this. She literally wants to quid mid-race.’
One post said, ‘There is something incredibly concerning about a driver not only being too slow to compete, but is more concerned about social media “hate” and not the safety of others around them.’
‘Natalie Decker just does not have it,’ one reply read. ‘Something something “definition of insanity”. It is not good for her or anybody else, and the “social media hate” isn’t going anywhere.’
Other commenters sided with Decker and believed she should have been shown more grace as they believed she was dealing with a mental health issue.
‘Its honestly disgusting seeing how cruel people are being about Natalie Decker seemingly having a panic attack/mental health crisis mid race,’ said one commenter. ‘Think what you want about her as a racer, I’ll openly admit to not thinking she has the talent needed for this level, she is still human.’
Another comment read, ‘these incels dogging natalie decker probably cashed out their 401k to subscribe to onlyfans at some point.’
Later in the day, Decker shared her side of the story and said she was being hard on herself
Another person defending Decker said, ‘Using this clip to put her down even more is just weird. I get she’s not as good as others but holy f*** can we just have a moment of support for a person clearly going through a lot.’
After the race, Decker posted to her Instagram account explaining what happened from her perspective.
‘I got a penalty at the drop of the green flag, I pulled out of line before the finish line, when serving that penalty I got another one for speeding on pit road,’ Decker wrote.
‘I am not going to lie I am really disappointed in myself because after all those penalties mentally I never recovered. I know there is going to be a lot of hate around my last to [sic] weekends racing and nothing you can say is worse then [sic] how hard I am on myself right now.
‘But I am going to push myself to get through this and control what I can control moving forward and show up to my next race with a smile on my face and fire in me to keep doing what I love.’
