NASCAR’s seen its share of drivers who step away, only to storm back and make everyone sit up straight. Mark Martin is the poster child for this. After scaling back in 2006 with Ginn Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, most thought he’d ease into retirement. Instead, the guy came roaring back in 2009, signing up for a full Cup Series season with Hendrick at age 50. Five wins and a near-miss at the championship later, Martin proved he wasn’t just back, he was still a force, pulling off a comeback that felt like it defied time itself.

Then there’s Matt Kenseth, who walked away from the sport in 2017 with a resume that screamed Hall of Fame. But when Chip Ganassi Racing needed a driver to replace Kyle Larson in 2020, Kenseth didn’t hesitate. No testing, no warm-up races, just straight into the Cup Series deep end. He didn’t light up the scoreboard like his championship days, but for a guy who’d been on the sidelines for over two years, Kenseth showed he could still hang with the best, turning heads with flashes of his old magic.

Now, another driver’s ready to add her name to the comeback list, and it’s a history-making moment. Natalie Decker, the 28-year-old from Wisconsin, is set to return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series after a year away, and she’s doing it in a way that’s never been done before. Her announcement for the Daytona race on August 22, 2025, isn’t just a return; it’s a trailblazing step as one of the first women to race in NASCAR after giving birth, carrying the weight of a new chapter for the sport.

Natalie Decker’s Historic Return

The news dropped like a bombshell from DGM Racing on August 13, 2025: Natalie Decker will climb back into the No. 92 Chevrolet for the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway, her first Xfinity Series start since May 25, 2024, at Charlotte. “The Daytona Double! Wawa returns to the No. 91 and 92 with Josh Bilicki and Natalie Decker! The Wawa 250 will mark Natalie’s return to racing, making history as one of the first women to race in NASCAR after giving birth,” the team posted, setting the stage for a monumental moment. Decker, who welcomed her son Levi on February 5, 2025, is stepping back into the cockpit after motherhood, joining a short list of female racers like Shawna Robinson who’ve competed in NASCAR’s national series post-childbirth.

Decker’s no stranger to Daytona’s high banks. She’s got four career starts there, two in the Truck Series and two in Xfinity, with her best results shining bright. In 2020, she nabbed a fifth-place finish in the Truck Series opener, the highest ever for a female driver in that series. Last season, she drove DGM’s No. 36 to an 18th-place finish in the Xfinity opener, leading seven laps and marking the most laps led by a woman in the series since Danica Patrick in 2013.

Her other 2024 start for DGM, in the No. 92 at Charlotte, ended with a 29th-place result. With 44 career starts across the Truck and Xfinity Series for nine different teams, Decker’s journey has been sporadic but packed with promise, and this return with DGM, teamed up with Josh Bilicki in the Wawa-sponsored No. 91, has fans buzzing about what she can do in what might be her best equipment yet.

The significance of Decker’s comeback can’t be overstated. After a tough pregnancy that saw her newborn rushed to the NICU for three days, she’s not just racing for herself but for every woman in motorsports pushing boundaries. “February 5th, 2025 was the best day of my life and also the worst day of my life,”

Decker shared. “Giving birth was so beautiful but having your baby taken away from you minutes after to get rushed to the NICU was the most painful thing I have ever experienced.” Now, healthy and back home with her family, she’s ready to make history at Daytona, a track where she’s already proven she can run up front.

This is a different Daytona

Daytona’s no ordinary track, it’s a beast with two distinct personalities. The Daytona 500 in February is NASCAR’s Super Bowl, where drivers have time to fine-tune setups over days of practice, dialing in every detail for the big show. But the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the Cup Series’ summer race, is a whole different animal, and the Xfinity Series’ Wawa 250 on August 22, 2025, will carry that same wild energy.

William Byron, the back-to-back Daytona 500 winner, broke it down at a Watkins Glen press conference, explaining why the summer race is chaos incarnate. “I think the track is slick in some ways, but at nighttime, it gains some grip. I feel like the cars are edgier to drive in the fall race. Plus, in the Daytona 500, you have more time to dial in your setup and dial in your handling for what you’re going to fight on Sunday.”

Byron’s not kidding about the chaos. The summer race, as the regular season finale, brings a desperation that turns Daytona into a demolition derby. Drivers push harder, go three-wide, and take risks that lead to wrecks. We saw that during this year’s 500 race when Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sparked a big one, which allowed Byron to clinch the consecutive Daytona 500 crown.

“So, yeah, it’s always something there,” Byron said, summing up the high-stakes madness. With the 2025 Wawa 250 being the final race before the Xfinity playoffs, the intensity will be cranked up, especially for Decker, who’s not just racing for a win but to cement her place in history.

Now, with DGM’s No. 92 and a shot to join legends like Martin and Kenseth in comeback lore, Decker’s ready to tackle Daytona’s wild summer vibe. As Byron leads the Cup points chase with 812, followed by Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin, the Xfinity field will be just as cutthroat, and Decker’s history-making run could steal the show.