“Frustrated” With Herself, 26-YO Xfinity Star Loses Her Calm on Radio Amidst Limited Charlotte Seat Time Misery

She is frustrated! DGM Racing driver, Natalie Decker, is having a hard time running in the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 26-year-old driver hopped inside the No. 92 DGM Racing car for the first time since the season’s opening race at Daytona, but the mile-and-a-half racetrack is proving a tough nut for her to crack.

Unable to adjust to the racing conditions at Charlotte, she voiced her concerns on the radio. “I am struggling!! I haven’t been in the seat in FOREVER and this is a very challenging track. I am just getting so frustrated with myself.”

However, her crew chief, Bryan Berry, reassured her that there was still a lot of racing left in the event and that she was going to be okay. DGM Racing even shared additional information about the conversation Bryan had with the driver.

“He tells her that we have a LOT of laps left of racing here and it’s okay to make mistakes. When you’re a part-time driver and haven’t raced in over 4 months, it won’t always run as smooth as @BikiniZone_.”

This is something Decker has also talked about. Part of her struggles in the sport comes from being a female in a male-dominated sport. However, being a part-time driver also added to her battles.

Unlike other major sports, drivers running in NASCAR need serious funding and sponsorship backing to keep them afloat in the sport. While Decker has enjoyed a couple of full-time schedules running in the Truck Series, it has been difficult for her to do the same when competing in the Xfinity Series.

Natalie Decker highlights how tough part-time driving can be in the Xfinity Series

In over four years, she’s only managed 11 Xfinity starts, and one of them came today at Charlotte. Fortunately, she did have the support of Bikini Zone alongside DGM Racing for her Charlotte run. But going against the full-time driver and even the Cup Series driver, who often competes at Charlotte, is an uphill climb for the part-time driver.

Explaining the challenges of being a part-time driver, Decker, via her Instagram account, said, “Do you want to talk about how difficult it is to be a part-time driver? Because I’m racing against all of these drivers that are in and out of the car, every single weekend. They have made more laps this year in the Xfinity Series than I have made in my entire life racing in the Xfinity Series. So it’s really difficult, getting in and getting up to speed and doing what I know what I’m capable of doing.”

Well, her lack of seat time and inexperience became a major obstacle for her during the race, as she struggled to get laps in. At times in the race, she was getting lapped by the leading drivers, like Kyle Busch. After running the entirety of the race in the tail end of the pack, Decker could only manage a P29 finish, which was nowhere near close to her P18 finish at Daytona earlier this season.

However, she believes in pursuing her dreams and getting better. Earlier this year, she said, “I grew up in a racing family… My dad and his three brothers raced everything and anything. But they are most famous for snowmobile racing. I grew a love for motorsports at a young age and I knew that this was a path I wanted to take since I was a young girl.”

As she pursued her dreams aggressively, she won four championships in go-karts and worked her way up to stock cars. That’s how she became a Central Wisconsin Super Stock Association champion. So fans expect to see more from her in the future. What do you think is a solution for Decker’s struggles?