Natalie Decker bags opening NASCAR Xfinity race entry at Daytona with DGM Racing

Natalie Decker will be teaming up with DGM Racing for the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway for the United Rentals 300.

Joseph Srigley, the managing editor of Nascar news site tobychristie.com, shared the news in an announcement published in X (formerly Twitter) that Decker will take on the No. 36 Chevrolet for DGM Racing. He said:

NEWS: @NatalieRacing will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener at @DAYTONA, driving the No. 36 @AmpedFitnessGym Chevrolet Camaro for @dgm_racing.

Decker is not new to the Xfinity Series, having made a total of 10 starts in the series in addition to her 32 Craftsman Truck Series race appearances.

There is precedent for Decker to excel in Daytona after earning her best career performances in both the Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series there. Decker made history in 2020 when she recorded the highest finish by a woman driver in the history of the Truck Series at the Daytona International Speedway.

In addition, the American also recorded another career-best finish on the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona in 2018.

In 2023, the Wisconsin-born racer ran a partial schedule with Emerling-Gase Motorsports for both the NASCAR Xfinity and ARCA Menards Series.

At Daytona, Natalie Decker will be part of a strong line-up for DGM Racing. She will join Kyle Weatherman, who will be driving the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro for the full season, and veteran Josh Bilicki, who will make appearances in the No. 92 Chevrolet Camaro throughout the season, starting with Daytona.

The United Rentals 300 at the Daytona International Speedway will run on 120 laps on Saturday, February 17.

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Natalie Decker's racing journey to NASCAR

Natalie Decker was born on June 25, 1997, in Wisconsin. She has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis since the early years of her life, which is a lifelong disease characterized by chronic inflammation of joint tissue.

As difficult as this condition is, Decker's passion to continue racing never changed. She started with go-kart racing, where she won four karting championships in two years. She then moved to full-sized race cars and made her debut in the ARCA Midwest Tour in 2013.

Decker's success in regional stock car racing allowed her to take part in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In 2019, she made her debut at the Daytona International Speedway for the first time, becoming one of the few female drivers in the male-dominated world of professional stock car racing.

Natalie Decker will be driving the No. 36 Chevrolet for DGM Racing at the Daytona International Speedway for the United Rentals 300 this year.