The 2026 NASCAR United Rentals 300 was nothing short of chaotic. With the first cars wrecking before the green flag even dropped, much chaos was expected. But things took a turn when Natalie Decker crashed on lap 92. There was some brutal swearing on the team radio from her side, but fans seemed to point out her mistake on the critical lap.

Natalie Decker’s radio meltdown

“Whoever that f*cking idiot was, go to his f*cking pit! Why would he f*cking do that?! Ruined our f*cking race! Sorry everyone…great work.” Decker’s message on her team radio was rather clear. Her incident with Sam Mayer did not sit well.

The #41 car had crawled back up to the top of the track after a major wreck. Seconds later, Decker, who was on the outside line, crashed head-on into the car. This ended her race. It is moments like these at Daytona that make or break races, and it was the latter for Decker. But many on social media had a different perspective on the incident.

Seemingly, there was a gap of nearly 15 seconds between the initial wreck and Decker crashing into Mayer. Many argued that the latter should have stomped on the brakes after the wreck to avoid getting back on the track. But some also claimed that Decker should have lifted off and applied the brakes after the caution was thrown.
She was not being followed immediately and avoided the inside lane to escape the crashed cars. However, by the time Mayer was back on the outside line, it was too late for her to brake and save the car. She also claimed that the impact was rather painful.

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But the fans were not very satisfied with her driving, and harsh criticism flooded the internet.

Fans give Decker a harsh reality check after NASCAR race

“She is not a race car driver, she is a social media person with money ..  nascar needs to pull her license before she kills someone,” wrote a fan, reacting to her meltdown after the crash. As mentioned, many claimed she was at fault for not avoiding the wrecked cars, given how much time had passed between the initial wreck and her impact. “I went back and counted, it was 16 seconds from the time the caution came out until the time she hit him lol,” claimed another fan.

Some also mentioned that NASCAR had allowed Natalie Decker to race, considering her past record, when some of the more proven drivers were left hanging: “Reminder that Daytona Busch series, truck series, and ARCA winner Mike Wallace can’t get a NASCAR license but Natalie can somehow.  She must have gotten her Daytona approval at a similarly sized track like the La Coliseum.”

At the same time, some claimed that Sam Mayer was just as much at fault for failing to brake and move over to the outside lane, where traffic passes through during a major caution event like this. “Natalie Decker and Sam Mayer both need to learn where the brake pedal is.”

While some were seemingly irritated, others found the entire meltdown rather funny: “Someone pls clip Natalie Decker’s radio, that shit was so funny.”

Natalie Decker is not new to racing. She made her Truck Series debut a few years ago and has since delivered competitive performances. However, it is the little incidents like this that catch the fans’ attention.