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Part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Natalie Decker Lemke's performance during the season-opening race at Daytona left the 26-year-old driver content with her performance, despite not being able to crack the top 15 in the final standings.
The DGM Racing driver managed to bag an ultimate P18 finish during the United Rentals 300, which was rescheduled to run on Monday night instead of the originally scheduled run on Saturday.
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Speaking to Toby Christie after the 300-mile-long race about how her career in racing, especially in the junior ARCA Menards Series has been leading up to this point, Natalie Decker Lemke gave fans an insight into her mindset. Despite not having the most positive outlook on the sport, Lemke managed to give an unfiltered opinion during the interview. She said:
"All the way up to now, I've had a few really good moments that made me happy. But 905 of going to the racetrack sucked and felt like absolute sh*t. So, to feel this good coming into a sketchy situation where it could rain and we might not make the race, having the energy of the sponsors and team that believe in me, I already felt a 100 times better."
Natalie Decker Lemke seems to be upbeat about the rest of her tenure in the 2024 Xfinity Series season. It remains to be seen how she can improve further on the track after having taken control of the mental side of racing.
Natalie Decker Lemke and Hailie Deegan became first two women in the same NASCAR Xfinity race since 2014
Natalie Decker Lemke and Hailie Deegan, two popular personalities in stock car racing circles, not only made waves on the track with their Xfinity Series appearances at Daytona this week. The two female drivers also managed to grace the 2024 United Rentals 300 alongside the opposite sex, a feat that has not been repeated since 2014.
The last NASCAR Xfinity Series race to feature two women on the grid came in 2014 at Kansas. Jennifer Jo Cobb and Milka Duno were the two female drivers seen in the field back then, with Lemke and Deegan repeating that feat ten years later in 2024.
The 2024 season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series now heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend for the RAPTOR King of Tough 250.
