For the second time since her NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series appearance at Dover Motor Speedway made headlines for all the wrong reasons, Natalie Decker made a surprise return to NASCAR for this past weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Since that Dover race in May, her only national series appearance had come in June at Pocono Raceway, where she competed for Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen and was knocked out of the O'Reilly Series race with an engine issue.
Decker also made two O'Reilly Series starts earlier in the year before that, and her 22nd place finish on Saturday was her best. In fact, it's tied for her second-best finish in the series since she began competing part-time in 2021. She also finished 22nd at Daytona in 2025, one year after finishing a career-best 18th.
Decker was a late addition to the entry list for the Daytona race, joining Young's Motorsports for the first time to run the No. 42 Chevrolet.
She had stated after her Truck Series races at Watkins Glen International and Dover, both of which resulted in her being black-flagged for being too slow, that she planned only to run O'Reilly Series races moving forward, and thus far she has stuck to that claim. Before those two races, she hadn't run any Truck Series races since 2020.
Natalie Decker replacement confirmed for Darlington
But this weekend, Decker will not be back behind the wheel of the No. 42 car, and as of now, she has no confirmed plans to return to any NASCAR series for the remainder of the 2026 season.
With her Daytona appearance, Decker became the 12th different driver to spend time behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet this year, and this weekend at Darlington Raceway, one of the other 11 is set to return.
Logan Bearden is set to make his third start of the season in the No. 42 car (and fifth overall). He finished 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and 26th at Nashville Superspeedway in May. Both of his starts with RSS Racing at Dover Motor Speedway and EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) resulted in DNFs.
Beyond this weekend, Young's Motorsports have only confirmed drivers for two of the eight remaining races. They still need a driver for next weekend's race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, but Bearden is set to return for the following weekend's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Matt DiBenedetto is then set to make his first start of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one week later.
The CW Network is set to provide live coverage of the Fleetio 200 from Darlington Raceway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, September 5. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason opener!
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