At Watkins Glen on Friday, two women came, put in better laps, and still had to pack up and leave. Dystany Spurlock was chasing history, and Toni Breidinger was also quicker than many others in the field. Still, both were left out. Natalie Decker got the spot because of owner points, even after a slow qualifying run. What happened after that only made fans angrier.
Natalie Decker Black-flagged at the Glen
Here is what a black flag means in plain terms: you are too slow to be out there, and you need to come in right now. NASCAR does not wave it lightly. At a road course like Watkins Glen, where cars are braking hard and stacking up through tight corners, one truck crawling around well below race pace is a genuine danger to everyone else on track.
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Decker got the black flag during Friday’s race for not meeting NASCAR’s minimum speed requirement. The rulebook gives a team one chance, pit, fix something, and get back up to speed. If the car still can’t keep pace, the day is done. Decker’s day was done. She finished 36th, a DNF.
This was not a surprise to anyone paying attention. Back at Daytona during Speedweeks, Decker hit Sam Mayer’s truck 16 seconds after the caution flag had already come out. Meaning everyone else had already slowed down. She hadn’t. The radio call that followed had her blaming Mayer. That clip went around quickly, and not in a good way.
Her August 2025 return made her the first woman to race post-birth, which is a notable milestone. Her 2026 schedule is spread thin: some O’Reilly Series races for Joey Gase Motorsports, and a two-race Truck deal with Team Reaume. Her average finish across those starts sits at 33.00.
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She made the grid for Friday’s NASCAR race; her team had owner points. That is a system where a team earns points over time, and those points can guarantee a starting spot even when your qualifying lap is one of the slowest of the day. There is no speed floor. No minimum standard you have to hit. Formula 1 has a rule called the 107% rule — if you qualify more than 7% slower than the fastest car, you do not start.
NASCAR has nothing like that. And on Friday, that gap in the rulebook put Decker in the race and kept two faster women out of it.
“Park her forever” — and who fans are actually rooting for
People online did not hold back. “The owners’ points rule has to have something like the 107% rule to keep it in check,” one fan wrote. “The fact that she even made the race is egregious.”
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Another wasn’t interested in being subtle: “Honest question — how the heck does she even still have a NASCAR license? She’s proven time and time and time again she doesn’t belong.”
Someone else went straight at the money side of it: “Why does she continue to get seat time? I realize she’s a pay driver, but damn, she shouldn’t even be out there.”
The one that hit hardest was this: “Park her forever, man. She has been given enough chances, and she hasn’t proved herself. If she just cruised around and came last, fine. But she keeps getting into race-altering situations. Waiting for the day when Isabella, Dystany, or Jade Avedisian gets their deserving chance.”
And then there was the comment that really framed the whole weekend: “Wow… Most of the NASCAR ladies are having a nightmare. First, Toni and Dystany fail to qualify, and now this happened to Decker. At least Isabella Robusto is still bossing it in ARCA.”
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That last line is worth pausing on. While all of this was happening at Watkins Glen, Robusto has been putting together a genuinely strong ARCA run, exactly the kind of ground-up, earn-your-way progression that fans keep asking for.
Spurlock ran a quicker lap than Decker and still didn’t get to run the NASCAR race. Her truck was a brand-new team with zero owner points to lean on. She drove to Watkins Glen to do something no Black woman had ever done in this sport. She drove home without a start.
Breidinger was faster, too. Full 2025 Truck Series season, four top-fives across four years in ARCA, 33rd quickest lap on Friday. Same story, no owner points, no race.
Then there’s Jade Avedisian. She’s 19, still climbing, and she’s been winning everywhere she goes. First woman to win a CARS Pro Late Model race. Made the Chili Bowl A-Main, which is one of the toughest dirt fields in the country.
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In February, she beat veterans and full-time NASCAR drivers to take a Super Late Model win at New Smyrna. Mark Martin, not exactly someone who hands out compliments, praised her publicly after that NASCAR race. FOX Sports put her on their top 20 Cup prospects list.
Karsyn Elledge, Dale Earnhardt’s granddaughter, said what a lot of people were already thinking when she went on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. Decker’s 2026 results, she said, were “honestly embarrassing” for every woman in NASCAR who is out there trying to be taken seriously on merit.
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