As Kyle Busch won his second and final Cup Series championship in 2019, the NASCAR community witnessed Natalie Decker run her first part-time season in a top three National Series. The following year was momentous for Decker as she became the highest-finishing female driver in the Truck Series with a P5 finish at Daytona. Rowdy, on the other hand, uncharacteristically won only one race that year, ironically at Texas Motor Speedway.

Four years since, with the dust now settling on Texas, Kyle Busch’s woes in “practice” last week have seemingly ignited debates over the need for increased timings. And NASCAR up-and-comer Decker may have the perfect answer, talking about “practice” in an Exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

Natalie Decker tackles NASCAR’s “Practice” problem

Natalie Decker is indeed a true inspiration for the next generation of diverse NASCAR drivers. However, after a disheartening sponsorship withdrawal, Decker could not participate in her second superspeedway outing this season in DGM Racing’s #36 Chevrolet at the Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday. Nevertheless, in her free time, the 26-year-old sat down with Josh Macuga of FCSE, to weigh in on NASCAR’s latest “problem,” in an Exclusive Interview with EssentiallySports.

The Emmy-nominated show host outlined an interesting question for Natalie Decker. Macuga inquired, “Racing often involves high-pressure situations and split-second decision-making. How do you prepare mentally and physically for races, especially in series like NASCAR, where competition is fierce?”

In turn, his guest provided a refreshing reply while laying out the context, based on the blazing ‘practice’ discussion amongst fans, drivers, and legends these days, including Kyle Busch and Dale Jr. Decker echoed her fellow NASCAR-mates, “A lot of fans don’t realize that when you’re in NASCAR and racing in NASCAR, you don’t get to practice. There used to be practice back in the day like, you could go to the racetrack, you could bring your racecar there, and you could practice. And now if you do that in NASCAR, you get fined. Like there’s just no practice. So when we show up to the racetrack, that’s all we get, is maybe that 20-30 minutes that they give us on track…”

She then detailed her approach to another of NASCAR’s evolving challenges, “So to prepare yourself for the race. Watching film, working out in the gym, eating right, staying hydrated, and some people like to go on the simulator and it helps. I believe it does help in certain ways…” However, considering the contrasting opinions, Decker carefully also dissected that “it’s not real life. So the best practice you can get is actually being in a race.” 

A+B=R: How Decker mentally prepares for fierce competition

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As the conversation evolved, the relatable rising star made a solid justification for an indomitable winner’s mentality. Exclusively with EssentiallySports, Decker left an amazing message in the background of her holistic preparation methods, for not just NASCAR fans but all striving for success and glory in their respective fields.

She declared, “But this is all I have to say. A+B=R. So R stands for results. B stands for everything you can’t control, and A stands for everything you can control. So if you’re going into a race weekend, and you’re focusing on everything you can absolutely control, from watching film to being prepared with your team, eating healthy, staying hydrated, and staying mentally focused on the task at hand. The B factor? B is gonna be what it’s gonna be. You can’t control if something breaks on your car. You can’t control if someone wrecks you. But as long as you focus on everything you can control, R, the result will be the best it can be.”

However, following up on her Daytona fortunes this year with another solid top-20 finish, fans are certainly eager to witness Natalie Decker’s return. But in the meantime, don’t forget to check out her latest docu-series on YouTube!