One of NASCAR‘s biggest social media draws, Natalie Decker, will be back on the track this weekend in Talladega for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday. The 28-year-old mom with 200k Instagram followers and about the same on TikTok, hasn’t slid into a fire suit since Daytona where she finished 33rd.
Instead of racing these days, Decker is better known for Instagram Q&As like the one she recently did on “How much do implants cost?” Spoiler: In the video, the racing veteran says her boobs cost the same price as a “set of tires.” Then, the video cuts to a shot of Goodyear racing tires. In 2024, Denny Hamlin said that one Goodyear racing tire was $2,400. You can do the math and adjust for inflation.
You get the idea on why Decker heading back to the track is a big deal. CONTENT!
You can catch Natalie and the good old boys as they turn left in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Ag-Pro 300 at 4 p.m. EST Saturday on CW.
The good: Goodell and his minions sped up the process. It felt like a pick was coming in just as picks were grabbing their hats and looking into the mirror as they prepared to go bro hug it out with the commissioner. The pace of play has definitely improved over the old days.
The bad: It was a boring draft. The emotion of the draft has been stripped away by NIL. Yes, some of these guys walked out with tears in their eyes, but it’s just not the same. You’re already looking at millionaires walking out to jump into Goodell’s arms.
Something else that’s driving me nuts is the lack of guys being picked out of small schools. Last night, we had a guy picked out of San Diego State and UCF. Throw in two picks out of Arizona State and that’s as small-school as it got. The days of Steve McNair out of Alcorn State are done forever. Would Josh Allen have stayed at Wyoming if NIL was around in 2016-17? I doubt it.
My crime: I wrote that I was going to use Chinese Temu to have one-off custom golf head covers made.
– Jon C. emails: Seriously? You call yourself an American and you want to farm out a small batch production to some sweatshop? Sure, capitalism and all that but I’m sure you can find a local print shop or someone with a computerized sewing machine to make a demo. Big companies and been reshoring production so why off shore yours.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
– Aaron tells me: I love that you’ve thrown a light on the Travel Ball Industrial Complex through your column. I could spend hours and pages on this, writing about it from a thousand different directions—-but instead I will keep it relatively short and specific to yesterday’s column.
Hunter posed some valid questions & points on 4/23 regarding the Travel Ball parents & the cost associated with it.
As a parent who did AAU basketball for three seasons with my oldest daughter, the answer, I believe is pretty simple. The vast majority of parents have very little objectivity about their childrens’ athletic ability. They believe if their child gets this special training, or goes to these “special tournaments”, the result will be a scholarship. When, the truth is, the majority of kids (excluding the elite AAU teams) are not talented enough to play at the college level, or, if they are, may only be offered a preferred walk-on spot or very small scholarship.
So, when Hunter asks, why don’t they (the parents) throw their hands up & say enough? The answer is because the majority of parents I come in contact with believe their son or daughter is talented enough to play in college & earn a scholarship.
From the youth level up through high school athletics, I find it rare for parents’ to be truly objective about what their kids strengths & weaknesses are.
Just so you have the entire story of why we chose to spend the money on AAU. As a freshman in high school, my daughter stated she wanted to play college basketball. She was (is) a good athlete, but not exceptional. In Wyoming, you will receive very few serious looks from colleges (particularly in basketball), because of the dearth of talent in our state, unless you are an obvious Division I athlete.
So, in order for her to have multiple offers and several options of schools, we chose to get her exposure through the AAU system (she also did continue to play high school basketball for her high school). Had we chosen not to go the AAU route, I believe she may have only had one or two offers with scholarships attached & likely only from local Junior Colleges.
From an economics standpoint, the math is simple. Spend around 9 to 10K over three years of AAU which resulted in a $120,000 scholarship (over 4 years) & the opportunity to play at a high-level Division II women’s basketball program. Again, I could have written the equivalent of Pride and Prejudice on this topic, but appreciate your time.
– Jim B. shares: Good day and thank you for your daily contributions to keeping America great.
An alternative to the youth travel sports chaos, encourage running and perhaps choose cross country as a high school sport. Running is a great form of exercise, can be a life-long pursuit and may lead to participation in local 5K, 10K or marathons, Spartan Races or other forms of outdoor activities and more.
I know this from my son’s experience. He ran cross country in high school. During and after college he got into the Spartan Racing thing. Today he is a very good Ironman athlete competing in both their half and full distance events.
To participate in some of these events isn’t cheap. However, everyone can find a local 5K or 10K to run for a good cause and minimal entry fee. Parents go support your son or daughter running a local 5K. When they cross the finish line it will be very rewarding to all. Build from there. Organized off road obstacle races like the Spartan Races are more money and Ironman races are truly expensive to enter. I’m guessing a Travel Ball summer though is much more expensive. The key is participation in these higher dollar types of events may be later in life when the teenager becomes a young adult ideally with a job and can pay for the expenses on their own or with some parental support. The foundation for this pursuit is formed early on with high school cross country.
Enclosed is a photo of my son finishing at the Ironman World Championships last fall in Nice, France. His next Ironman is in a few weeks in Jacksonville Florida. I act as his Sherpa at these events. It all began back in junior high when he chose to run on the cross country team.
Joe, keep up the great work! Screencaps is a daily must read.
Kinsey: I hear you loud and clear, Jim. It turns out that Screencaps Jr. took the cross country path this past fall and ended up on the junior high varsity team that finished runner-up in the state of Ohio in Division 1. I couldn’t believe it. He went from not caring much about running to finishing 85th. I counted like 20 7th graders who had faster times in his state race.
Mrs. Screencaps and I now love cross country. The kids run for 13 minutes, we pull out our lawn chairs or walk around, maybe get a drink, just hangout in the nice fall air. No stress on us. No concerns about the coach not giving our son playing time. It’s the most relaxing sport for a parent. We’re in heaven.
– Jacob N. hits on a topic that I’ve had on my mind with a 13-year-old in my house who deep down would like to have some sort of motorized mode of transportation: Joe, as always thanks for being a beacon of light in today’s world! Link is to an electric scooter crash in Omaha.
https://www.wowt.com/2026/04/23/mother-daughter-injured-after-car-scooter-crash-north-omaha/
Kinsey: This week, Screencaps Jr.’s best friend was in a scooter crash right in front of our house. After I got off a work Zoom call, Mrs. Screencaps told me that the boy was thrown off the scooter and sent flying across the road. He landed on his shoulder, skinned up his arm and leg, but thankfully he didn’t break his collarbone or separate his shoulder.
It turns out the boy is one of my pitchers and catchers on my 13-14U baseball team which was already short on pitching. Not only did he just about ruin the end of his school year, but his baseball season nearly came to an end. Stay safe out there, kids.
Some of you owe me an apology. I don’t have the time to go look up your emails, but there were several emailers who called me crazy when I said Wendy’s would be a dead fast-food franchise in 5-10 years. That was three years ago. Look at where we’re at now.
Yet here we are just a week away from the start of the sixth season with Millennials now making up a growing number of the participants. When TNML started, it was dominated by Boomers. Those Boomers are now slowing down while the Millennials pick up the pace.
Can a Boomer do the unthinkable and win a national title? It’s never been done in league history.
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That’s it this week. I know it’s been stressful for legacy Screencaps readers. Hopefully all of you read the newsletter I put out Thursday to ease concerns. I’ve been at this a long time. Adjustment is hard, but things tend to work out in the end. It’s still the same community, the same morals, the same goals.
Let’s have a great weekend. Let’s stay positive and move forward. Now go dominate the day.
