- Kevin Harvick made his stance clear on Natalie Decker’s Truck Series breakdown.
- Harvick calls Decker’s tantrums a mockery of the sport.
- At Dover, Decker said she would never come back to the Truck Series again.
Natalie Decker has already seen a section of fans turn against her after the recent Dover incident in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Now it appears that even veterans of NASCAR are not buying into her reaction from the race weekend.
Last week, on Friday, Decker appeared to break down while competing in the Truck Series, and she openly said over the car radio that she would never return to the Truck Series again. While some fans backed her, with many arguing she may have suffered a panic attack inside the car, Kevin Harvick did not extend any sympathy following the incident.
Kevin Harvick does not hold back on Decker’s temper tantrum and complaints
In a recent video posted by Forty Five Jamie on X, Kevin Harvick laid out his stance on Natalie Decker’s outburst during the Truck race at Dover, leaving no room for interpretation.
He said he has zero sympathy for Natalie Decker’s temper tantrum and complaints, arguing that it turns the sport into a mockery and damages the reputation of female drivers who race in professional competition, including Danica Patrick and others who have built their careers in the same environment.
As he put it, “I’m in the zero sympathy category. I think that racing is something that either you’re good at or you’re not. And I don’t like to see a mockery made out of what our sport is. And we have so many great up and coming female drivers. And you look at what Danica Patrick did and you look at Catherine Legg and a lot of the females that have done such a great job.”
“And I hate to see all the work for Jade Abadisian that is coming up through the ranks, Isabella Robusto, all the females that are trying to do it the right way by being good at their craft and seeing the rage quit that she went through this weekend. I have zero sympathy for throwing a temper tantrum and blaming it on a series director and all the things that she said over the radio and all the things that have happened before this. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for this one.”
What exactly happened to Natalie Decker at Dover?
On Friday, Decker’s run at Dover went off course early due to penalties on track. She was handed a pass-through penalty for a starting violation during Stage 1, and later officials placed her under a black flag for failing to meet the minimum required speed.
Those calls pushed her crew into rapid adjustments, and the situation spilled over the radio in real time without restraint. Natalie Decker said, “You guys, I’m trying my best to hold my sh-t together, but I don’t want to keep doing this,” as the issues piled up, according to the team audio.
When the team and Josh Reaume gave her the option of bringing the No. 22 Ford F-150 back to the garage, while also pointing to the Mental Health Awareness Month paint scheme tied to Nico’s Hope for Life Foundation, Decker responded, “I feel like a f*cking failure if I do that,” and added that she could be suspended if she kept talking.
After that, she spoke to team owner Josh Reaume over the radio, saying, “I’m sorry, Josh, I’m not going to come back to the Truck Series… I’m staying in the O’Reilly Series, this series f*cking sucks.” A few seconds later, she added, “The amount of hate I’m gonna get online… I’m not ready.”
At that point, NASCAR insiders said concerns began circulating about whether she may have been dealing with an anxiety or panic response inside the truck during the race.
Statistically, her 2026 season across NASCAR national divisions reflects an average finish of 35.0, with 101 laps completed out of a possible 274 across two Truck Series starts.
Earlier in the year, she also came under scrutiny after criticism from fans over a photo taken with comedian Bert Kreischer, where she pulled down her fire suit.
