Plenty of sons, brothers and fathers have raced at Daytona, as well as a handful of daughters and sisters.
But Natalie Decker will alter the dynamics dramatically next week when she becomes just the second mother to turn NASCAR laps at Daytona International Speedway. Decker announced Wednesday she is entered in the Xfinity Series race next Friday (Aug. 22), driving the No. 92 Chevrolet for DGM Racing, which also fields a full-time Xfinity car with driver Josh Bilicki.
It will be Decker’s first NASCAR start since May of 2024 and obviously the first since giving birth to a son, Levi, this past February. Decker, 28, is married to Derek Lemke, who also raced a few NASCAR events in previous years.
Decker is reported to become just the second mother to race in NASCAR, following Shawna Robinson, whose NASCAR efforts lasted from 1991-2005. She had two children in the mid-’90s.
Since 2016, Decker has raced in NASCAR’s Xfinity (12 starts) and Truck Series (32 starts), as well as 31 starts in the ARCA stock-car series, a NASCAR affiliate.
And she’s no stranger to Daytona, where some of her best NASCAR accomplishments have taken place. She finished fifth in a Chevy truck in that series’ 2020 season opener, and fifth after winning the pole for ARCA’s season opener in 2018. She finished 18th in the 2024 season-opening Xfinity race, her second start on the Daytona tri-oval.
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