“The amount of hate I’m going to get online for this is just going to be insane. I’m not ready.”
On Friday, the NASCAR Truck Series raced at Dover Motor Speedway. Natalie Decker made her return to the series in the No. 22.
The 28-year-old has run two NASCAR O’Reilly Series races in 2026. Friday’s Truck Series race was her first start in a truck since 2022.
Right the start of the race, Decker was issued a start violation from the tower. She was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.
While serving the penalty, she sped on the pit lane. NASCAR issued her another penalty. And on the team radio, Decker broke down.
After multiple laps of discussing it with the team, NASCAR issued a warning to Decker for not meeting minimum speed. She then pulled it to the garage area noting that she didn’t want to do it anymore.
Listen to the team radio below.
Dover Race Results: May 15, 2026 (NASCAR Truck Series)
Natalie Decker radio
Team radio: “Even on the bottom. We got make a pass through penalty right here.”
Decker: “You guys, I’m trying my best to hold my shit together but I don’t want to keep doing this.”
Team radio: “You’re okay. We’ll just do this pass through and get after it.”
Team: “We have like 15 laps to go to this stage end. If you do not want to do it when you get back out here, you can bring it in. Okay?”
Decker: “There’s just so many shitty things that I could say right now. And, I’m just trying to keep it together about the (expletive) director of the series.”
Team: “Try to keep your composure and try to just breathe. And if you’re not comfortable with this, come in.”
Team: “Let’s remember what’s on our truck and just bring it to the garage. Right?”
Decker: “I’ll feel like a (expletive) failure if I do that.”
Team: “You’re not. Lets do that. Drive it down to the garage.”
Decker: “There’s so many things I wanna say and I’m probably gonna get (expletive) suspended. You have no idea.”
Team: “Hey, just pay attention to the spotter. He’ll get you into the garage. You’ll be okay.”
Decker: “I’m sorry Josh. I’m not going to come back to the Truck Series. Derek can take it from here on out. I’m staying in the O’Reilly Series. This series (expletive) sucks.”
Team: “I hear you. I’ll have a fresh bottle of water for you when you get out of the truck. Derek, we gotta put something together for you for Nashville.”
Decker: “The amount of hate I’m going to get online for this is just going to be insane. I’m not ready.”
Natalie Decker comments after the race
After the race, Decker reflected on the situation…
“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 opened.
“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 weekends racing and nothing you can say is worse then 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.”
