After spending the last three seasons making sporadic appearances in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Natalie Decker has secured a seat for the series’ season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, the driver announced on Wednesday.
A native of Eagle River, Wisconsin, Decker will be attempting to qualify for the United Rentals 300 with DGM Racing, piloting the No. 36 Chevrolet Camaro, a third entry for the organization.
Amped Fitness Gym, a top-of-the-line fitness center with 21 different locations spread across Alabama and Florida, will partner with Decker for the season-opener at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
See you in Daytona! I couldn’t be anymore AMPED UP to be racing with @ampedfitnessgym in the @dgm_racing_ #36 Xfinity car ? pic.twitter.com/MUGvmgffsF
— Natalie Decker (@NatalieRacing) February 8, 2024
The partnership also signals the first time that Decker will partner with DGM Racing in the Xfinity Series, an organization owned by long-time driver and team owner Mario Gosselin.
Decker will work alongside Kyle Weatherman and Josh Bilicki as a teammate at Daytona. Weatherman, driving the No. 91 Chevrolet, is the organization’s sole full-time driver, while Bilicki is set to begin a multi-race schedule in the season-opener.
In the last three seasons, Decker has primarily directed her energy to competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on a part-time basis, driving for several different organizations including RSS Racing, Our Motorsports, MBM Motorsports, SS-GreenLight Racing, and Emerling-Gase Motorsports.
During her time in the second-tier series, Decker has made a pair of superspeedway starts, one at Talladega Superspeedway in the Spring of 2021, and the other last Summer at ‘The World Center of Racing’.
Decker isn’t unfamiliar with competing on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, after piloting a Niece Motorsports entry to a fifth-place result in 2020, becoming the first – and only – female driver to score a top-five result in the NASCAR Truck Series.
But, should Decker look to record another finish similar to that one, she’ll need to put up a strong lap in qualifying, as the No. 36 Chevrolet Camaro doesn’t have owner points to fall back on, with the entry only being fielded part-time in 2023.
