Fans Have a Problem With NASCAR Driver Natalie Decker Admitting Her Husband DMd Her When She Was Just 14
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Natalie Decker recently admitted her husband DMd her when she was just 14-years-old and he was 18. Some fans have a problem with that.
Prior to competing in the series’ season opener at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend, Natalie Decker was a guest on the Speedway Sessions podcast. During her interview, Decker admitted her husband, Derek Lemke, slid into her DMs while they were racing in Wisconsin.
Natalie Decker shared the story of how she met her husband
“So, I was 14-years-old and I went to his home track at Elko, and he was a few people in front of me in line checking in to get your pit pass,’ Decker recalled.
“And he was wearing a baby blue Bauer hat – hockey brand – backwards. And I look at my dad, and I said, ‘Do you think that’s a hockey player AND a race car driver? Because if that’s the case, I will marry that guy.’ And my dad was like, ‘Oh, whatever, whatever.'”
Decker said she then became ‘obsessed’ with Lemke
“So, I was actually racing against Derek’s dad, that first time I ever went to that track. And I met them, you know, short track racing in the Midwest, after the race, you go to the bar. So I met them at the bar afterwards. And I didn’t realize that Derek was like four years older than me. So I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work. He’s 18. I’m 14.’ So then, like, the whole year goes by. Now we’re at Oktoberfest at the end of the season. And like he now knows I’m like obsessed, madly in love.
“Like I think he’s the coolest guy, I think he’s so cute,” Natalie Decker continued. “Like I’m crushing on him hard, and I’m just like this little girl to him at this point. He has a girlfriend, he’s graduated high school. So like it’s weird, right?
“So, like, we’re now maybe six months after Oktoberfest. He messaged me on Instagram, and he was like, ‘Call me when you’re 18.’ And I said, ‘Bet, I will.’ I was like okay, deal… I’m pretty sure he still had a girlfriend when he told me that.”
Speedway Sessions host Matt Tifft’s immediate response was, “Whoa! Is that grooming? I feel like that’s grooming.”
Decker then said that Lemke texted her in February after she turned 18.
“He’s like, ‘How’s it going?’ And it was Valentine’s Day. So dad, if you’re watching this, I’m so sorry, but, my Mom already knows about it. So, I’ll say it. I sent him a very cute picture of my cute little butt. And I said, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Derek, What’s my present?’ We never stopped talking since that day.”
Many fans were appalled at Natalie Decker’s admission
“This isn’t the flex she thinks it is ?,” one fan wrote on Instagram.
“Idk if I’d be bragging about this,” someone else commented. “And I definitely wouldn’t want her bragging about this if I were him. Telling a 14-year-old to ‘call me when you’re 18’ is certainly a… decision.”
Several Chris Hanson memes were also used. Reactions got so bad that Tifft deleted the clip from his X account.
“It’s literally the textbook definition of grooming,” read another comment.
Natalie Decker had a very up-and-down weekend in Daytona
During Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season opener, Decker got caught up in an accident on lap 91. She wasn’t very happy about it and went on a wild rant on her radio.
“Why the f— would he (Sam Mayer) roll up the track?” Decker shouted. “Who the f— was that? That f—— me off so much. That f——- hurt!”
Her comments caught the attention of Mike Davis, co-host of the Dale Jr. Download. Meyer drives for the Dale Earnhardt Jr. race team.
“Why the f— would he roll up the track?” Davis wrote. “You mean the one with four flat tires, no brakes, no front end, a hood draped over his windshield, and a destroyed race car?”
On the positive side, Natalie Decker did get to meet comedian Bert Kreischer. Naturally, they both took off their tops.
