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Monday night, 26-year-old NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Natalie Decker Lemke achieved a feat that hadn’t been seen since Danica Patrick reached it in 2013.
During the series’ season opener, the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, Decker Lemke became the first female to lead a NASCAR Xfinity Series race since 2013.
Driving the number 36 car for DGM Racing, Decker Lemke led the race for seven laps. Danica Patrick, who led five laps during the same Daytona race in 2013, was the last female driver in the series to do so.
With seven laps led at @DAYTONA, @NatalieRacing is the first woman to lead an Xfinity Series race since @DanicaPatrick in 2013. pic.twitter.com/i1lk0m3EPQ
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) February 20, 2024
On top of achieving that feat, Natalie Decker Lemke also got her best-ever finish in a NASCAR Xfinity Series race: 18th place.
After the race, she told Toby Christie, “All the way up to now, I’ve had a few really good moments that made me happy. I was having fun, but 90% of going to the racetrack sucked and felt like absolute s—. So, to feel this good coming into a sketchy situation where it could rain and we might not make the race, ad having the energy of the sponsors that believe in me and team that believes in me, I already felt a 100 times better than that 90% of my career that felt like absolute s—.”
After becoming the third female racer to ever lead laps in the @NASCAR_Xfinity Series and scoring an 18th place finish, @NatalieRacing says anyone who feels like things are going wrong, and wants to give up, “don’t give up.” Decker has reemerged after a dismal stretch. pic.twitter.com/ufIwT1wYXw
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) February 20, 2024
Decker Lemke, who began her racing career when she was 12-years-old, was the 2013 Rookie of the Year on the ARCA Midwest Tour.
In 2015, she was named to the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program.
And in 2020, Natalie Decker Lemke became the highest finishing female driver in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with a 5th place finish in the February race at Daytona.
Her cousins Paige Decker and Claire Decker have also competed in stock car racing with Paige making two starts each in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and Xfinity Series.
Another female driver, 22-year-old Hailie Deegan, also participated in the United Rentals 300 at Daytona, but was involved in a wreck on Lap 23, ending her Xfinity Series debut in 37th place.