Natalie Decker ran a clean race in the No. 54 N29 Technologies Toyota Tundra bringing home an 18th place finish in Sunday’s M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway after the race was pushed back from rain Saturday night.
Decker took the green flag Saturday just after noon eastern time in the 23rd position. Ten laps in, Decker had fallen back to 25th. The pace of the leaders was enough to put Decker a lap down back in 25th just 24 laps into the race.
The first caution of the day came out with eight laps to go in the first stage as Juan Ma Gonzalez in the No. 10 blew a tire after getting into the wall. The field went back green with two laps left in the stage, and Decker was able to finish in 24th.
She was the first car one lap down, giving her the lucky dog putting her back on the lead lap for the start of stage two. As the field went back green, Decker was in 22nd. The stage was less than eventful with Decker falling a lap back, but ending the stage in 21st. There were only 16 trucks left on the lead lap.
As the field went back green with 72 laps to go starting the final stage, Decker was up to 19th just one lap down. With 63 laps to go, the caution came out as Austin Hill in the No. 16 spun Johnny Sauter in the No. 13. This came with some retaliation from Sauter under caution as he rammed right into the back of Hill and spun him out and they hit him in the door again.
All of this excitement brought Decker up into 18th for the restart with 56 laps remaining, she quickly climbed up to 17th as there were just 50 laps to go. With 23 to go, Decker fell two laps down, still sitting in 17th.
Decker finished in 18th, two laps down, her third-best finish of the season. She will now turn her focus to next week at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway where she will run in the Carshield 200 Saturday, June 22nd. It will be her 2nd time racing at the raceway, with her lone trip coming in the Arca Series last year when she finished 15th.
Written by Adrian Beecher
