Concord, North Carolina (August 28, 2017) – Twenty-year old female driver Natalie Decker turned in another impressive performance, finishing seventh, setting a new career best in Sunday’s ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards (ARCA) 100-mile road course event at Road America.
Splashing onto the scene midway through the ARCA season, the popular Decker continues to raise eyebrows for all the right reasons. Making just her fifth career ARCA start and first ever road course attempt, the Eagle River, Wisconsin rookie picked up her second consecutive series top-10 finish in front of a noticeable contingency of home state fans.
“Today was an incredible day,” says Decker. “Racing on this stage in my home state was really special. And then to have the finish we had – I just couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Starting 16th on the grid behind the wheel of her No.25 Venturini Motorsports prepared World Championship Snowmobile Derby – Musselman’s BIG Cup Apple Sauce Toyota, Decker took aim at the legendary 4-mile, 14-turn course with exuberance and realistic expectations in check.
“Our goal for this weekend remained the same as it’s been all season-long, run a smart race, gain experience and focus on finishing in the top-10. Today we did just that.”
Maintaining mid-pack position Decker kept her car within striking distance. A late race pit stop for fuel and new set of tires set the table for a wild finish. With the situation getting dicey outside her windshield Decker would keep her focus and navigate her car through traffic as the lead cars battled. Focused on keeping the car on track Decker would be rewarded picking up several positions on the final lap.
“We raced the course today and came out with a great finish. Road racing is so technical. There’s so much going on out on the track that’s out of your control. The key today was focusing on being smooth and hitting our points. There’s no room here to make mistakes – and fortunately today I made very few. I kept the car clean and at the end I was rewarded.”
Decker’s next scheduled race is the ARCA Series season finale at Kansas Speedway on Friday October 20.
ABOUT VENTURINI MOTORSPORTS:
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars for over 30-years in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports. Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Brennan Poole, Kyle Benjamin, Daniel Suarez, and Brandon Jones. Over the years the Venturini name has become synonymous with modern-day racing in America. In 2012, the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
