Joliet, IL – After overcoming a slide through the grass shortly after the start of stage 2, Natalie Decker, in the No.54 N29 Technologies Toyota Tundra for DGR-Crosley, rallied back to a 14th place finish in the Camping World 225 at Chicagoland Speedway last Friday, on June 28th. It marked the second-best finish of the young career of the rookie in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
Decker took the green flag in the 15th position Friday night and quickly jumped up to 13th after two laps.
The yellow flag peeked its eye early after just five laps in at Chicagoland the caution comes out as Jordan Anderson took a spin. Decker was sitting in 14th when the yellow came out.
After going back green Decker fell back a bit, sitting in 19th with 10 laps left in the first stage. She was able to rally, however, and got back up to 17th as the first stage came to an end.
She came in at the stage break for four tires and two cans of fuel. As the field went back green, Decker was sitting pretty in 10th. Just two laps into the run, Decker was spun by incidental contact from the No. 4 of Todd Gilliland, sending her for a slide through the infield. However, Decker righted the ship and received minimal damage.
“I was actually trying to hit it sideways or backward because I didn’t want to ruin the front end of my truck” explained Decker, “And I think I still hit the front of my truck. But thank God that nothing happened. I was praying to God that it was going to be ok and I am so glad that it was.”
She came in for a quick tire change as the field went back green with 23 laps to go in the stage and Decker in 22nd, remaining on the lead lap. She was able to climb up to 20th as the second stage came to a close, staying on the lead lap.
As the field came in for pit stops ahead of the start of the final stage, Decker came in for four tires, two cans of fuel and adjustments. She started the final stage up in the 15th position. Then after just two laps completed in the stage, Grant Enfinger in the No. 98 and Spencer Davis in the 44 got into each other coming out of turn four. This shot Davis down the track, slamming into the passenger side of Austin Wayne Self in the No.22, ripping off most of the sheet metal on that side of the truck, bringing out the caution.
As the field restarted on lap 88, Decker, was in 16th and stayed near the same, maintaining 16th as the 50 to go mark came. Then as the field started to cycle through green-flag stops, Decker was able to climb all the way up to the 2nd place position. However, after her stop, she was scored back in 17th, with 25 laps to go.
As the final 25 laps dwindled down, Decker was able to slowly pick off a few more trucks and climb up into 14th position ahead of the drop of the checkered flag. This came despite the fact that she had one less set of tires due to her spin after the end of stage 1. Had she had that last set of tires for the final stop, who knows how high she could have climbed.
“It was a really good night! They gave me a really good truck and the race at the beginning was going very well. It sucked that we got spun, that messed things up for a couple of laps. At the end there, I was learning so much about the air and that’s the biggest thing.”said an excited Natalie Decker, “I kept saying on the radio, I have so much to learn about the air and passing trucks and not following in their tracks and getting your nose out in clean air. I had such a great truck, that was just the biggest thing for me to learn that and I am really happy with 14th. So, on to the next one!”
In the end, her 14th place finish sits 2nd best in her rookie truck season, with the lone better finish coming at Las Vegas earlier this year where she finished 13th. She will now look to ride this momentum as she heads to Kentucky Speedway after a week off for a Thursday night race on July 11th in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225.
“I’ve been to Kentucky one other time in the ARCA car, the last year they went to Kentucky. I don’t really remember too much, It was my first mile-and-a-half though, my first ever. So I am really excited to go back there to see how much I have improved on mile-and-a-half’s because I am starting to like them!”
Written by: Adrian Beecher
