Criticism is a part of racing, but sometimes it can get out of hand. This is what happened to Natalie Decker shortly after the 2026 Daytona 500. She crashed, and it was her radio meltdown that didn’t sit well with the fans. In fact, the brutal criticism she faced was so harsh that NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace felt the need to give the critics a reality check.

Kenny Wallace backs Natalie Decker

“This is unreal. This is devastating. They all just start piling on, piling on. Natalie, you’re going to watch this. As my mama would say, this too shall soon pass. Dust it off, and go to Pocono for your next sponsored race,” Wallace noted. “Shame on all of you. You know, that’s a human being, right? And you know when she was on her radio, she wasn’t talking to you; she was talking to her team.”

Decker isn’t a full-time driver, so Wallace understandably wants her to focus on the next race instead of the critics. Her next race run will be in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Pocono Raceway on the 13th of June. Till then, she will have ample time to prepare and get back on the track, which is exactly what Wallace wants her to think about.

While one might agree that her comments on the team radio were rather tough, they seemed to be in the heat of the moment.

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“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,” she exclaimed on her radio after the race.

Decker crashed running the grandest stage of them all, and it wasn’t exactly her fault, either. It was a major crash, and Mayer’s car rolled back onto the track when Natalie Decker crashed. She also mentioned that the wreck was painful, and it amplifies more, considering she suffers from arthritis.

While some argue that she should’ve gone slow and taken the inside line, that’s a part of racing. Wrecks happen, and crashes are common. While some criticism is natural, the way she was slandered on social media wasn’t exactly fitting. In fact, a fellow female driver also pointed her out on the DBC Podcast.

Karsyn Elledge finds Decker’s crash “embarrassing”

The fans have their opinion, but there seems to be more to Decker’s crash than just the fans’ approach. This was a major discussion amongst the insiders, and Karsyn Elledge had her point of view. While it might sound rather controversial, she claimed that the crash was “embarrassing.”

“It’s honestly embarrassing,” she said on the DBC podcast. “It’s embarrassing for the women who have worked hard to have a place in this sport to be taken seriously, to be seen as an equal competitor. There are a lot of us who have made a career—the Taylor Reimers and Isabella Robustos of the world, Jade Avedisian, talented. That’s just, it’s embarrassing, to be honest. And that’s really all I have to say about it.”

One might argue that Natalie Decker hasn’t had the best results in her racing career so far. However, she still had the run at Daytona and has ample experience to get behind the wheel of a race car. The crash in question seemed to be a result of miscommunication, and Mayer’s timing of rolling back to the track made it worse.