The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 49: Pennzoil 400

Sunday March 4, 2018 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

After being released earlier that morning, Chase makes his way into the garage with Sarina, fingers locked together as they make their way to the trailer. They go inside and up into the lounge, sliding the door closed behind them.

“Do you need my help?” She questions and he shakes his head no, slipping his pants off. “Chase, if you’re not feeling good, let’s just go tell Alan and let Just-”

“I’m fine,” he cuts her off as he slips the bottom of his firesuit on. He pauses, taking a deep breath, as his eyes locked with hers. “I’m fine, okay? I’m ready to go today with full certainty.”

“Just promise me that if something comes up, you will let Justin take over.” Chase nods his head, accepting, as he slips off his shirt. He then pulls his firesuit, biting his tongue in the process, as he slips it on. “I just don’t want you doing this because you think you need to impress everybody, or hold up to this standard, or do it because of Alison. You need to take care of yourself.”

“I told you that I was fine, and I am fine.” She lets out a sigh, as she wanted to believe in those words. However, she couldn’t let go of the fact what had just happened not even 24 hours ago, and felt every piece of her heart cringe in watching him go through that again. She felt everything flash before her once again, and almost wanted to run and cry somewhere. It certainly had her entering today’s race on high alert.

Changed into his firesuit, he makes his way to the garage, watching the crew went about their normal pre-race routine before heading over to technical inspection. Taking a deep breath, it was certainly a nice sight and a good distraction from everything. For Chase, escaping any reminder of Alison was a welcome sight right now. While he had let off Emma easy with having been part of Alison getting away, it was certainly back to eating at him more than he had wanted. He kept wondering where the next decision would come.

“Please tell me you didn’t escape the hospital this morning without permission,” he hears and immediately chuckles, holding up the release papers that he knew NASCAR would want if they had gotten word about what happened – which was likely. He had actually been lucky it wasn’t all over the news considering it happened in a public place. Jordan takes the paper, reading over it, before handing it back over. “Okay, that’s great you’re fine and released. But seriously, why are you here?”

“I’m ready to go today,” he answers, causing the interior mechanic’s jaw to drop. Jordan had been all set to get Justin over there in the car, and everything fitted as closely as possible, believing there was no chance that Chase would be set to go after hearing the news from Alan. However, now his driver stood before him?

“Seriously?” Chase nods his head. “Dude, you just spent the night in the hospital, and I bet there’s still lingering effe-”

“Feeling nauseous was talked about this morning,” Sarina throws in, actually welcoming the third degree from Jordan.

“So the fact that you could throw up or have something lingering, plus the fact that we’re only now what? Three weeks removed from crashing into Daytona beach and bruising some ribs, on top of crashing a racecar at 180 mph? But yet, we’re going to stand here and say that we’re ready to go today?” Chase nods his head as Jordan crosses his arms. “Throwing yourself in that car today as a distraction isn’t healthy, or a welcome sight. I know you don’t want to think about it, but using this as a distraction when you’re not 100% is not right.”

“So that’s why you think I’m doing this?” Chase questions and Jordan nods his head. chase could only let out a sigh. “Maybe you’re right, but can you blame me after everything? How would you feel if someone was constantly tormenting you every single damn week of your life?” He takes a deep breath, realizing more of his emotions were coming out than warranted.

“Chas-” Jordan starts, but Chase puts his hand up.

“I’m not denying what you’re saying, Jordan. You know that better than anyone here, actually. but that’s not why I am fully committed to today. Sure, my ribs are sore as they’ve been for the past couple of weeks. Sure, there may be a lingering effect or two, but that’s why I took two Gravol this morning. I know myself, I know my body, and I know what I can handle. I will be fine today.” Jordan takes a deep breath, hating to have a confrontation like this with him, but it was only out of caring for him that he threw it back in his face.

“Just promise me that you’ll do somethin-”

“Justin will be on the pit box as back-up if needed, and I already promised Sarina. But, trust me, I’m fine.” Jordan nods his head, accepting.

“By the way, we know enough doctors around the country now. let’s stop meeting them, okay?” Chase couldn’t help but agree as Jordan walks away.

Despite every bit of nerve that she may had been experiencing, she found herself sitting on the pit box, ready for another race day. There was nothing that she could do to stop this, so all she could do was be the supportive girlfriend and hope everything went smoothly.

The Pennzoil 400 started off smoothly, as Chase ran in the top-10 throughout the first two stages, feeling confident that they had a solid base moving forward into the second half of the race. A couple more adjustments and they’d be good to go.

The third stage started off even better, as he was even able to break into the top-five a little, before the caution flew for Jamie McMurray blowing a tire.

The restart brought forth the usual expected chaos, with three-wide racing throughout the field. The second lap afterwards, Kurt Busch made a move underneath Chase off of turn four, ready to try and snag the position. However, to the surprise of everyone, he got loose, turning up across the track coming onto the front straightaway, taking Chase up into the wall with him.

“What the hell?” Eddie D’Hondt immediately questions on the radio, which matched the reaction of everybody on the pit box as well.

“He just came wide open up the track,” Chase comments, knowing immediately their day was done based on the amount of front end damage in seeing how far the hood was buckled up. Thankfully, the impact wasn’t too hard that he was feeling it, as he knew that wouldn’t bode well given how he was feeling already.

“Jerk.” Sarina had to chuckle at how clearly Eddie made his feelings known about the situation, but couldn’t help but agree – not really caring if Kurt meant it or not. He should know his limits, right?

“What in the hell?” Alan questions, still confused as ever as he hadn’t even moved from his spot on the pit box. Even watching the replays, it just didn’t seem to make sense that just like that, their day was ruined.

“Lost control of his car,” Eddie tries to reason. “Carried too much speed.” It was the only explanation humanly possible.

Once back in the garage, Chase made the mandatory walk over to the care center, easily getting checked in and out despite everything going on. After a reminder about breathing exercises, and possibly wanting to ice those ribs, he was allowed to go without reservation.

The trip also allowed him to cross paths with Kurt, who apologized for the contact.  It didn’t mean much, nor did it really make up for what happened, but at least it was nice to see a guy admit something for a change.

“It was unfortunate,” Chase tells the media outside of the care center. “I thought we were getting a little bit of momentum.  We had a really good pit stop there and gained a bunch of spots on pit road, got ourselves inside the top five and could run with them for a few laps.  So, just trying to make the most of what we had and there was no guarantee how it was going to end up and ended up poorly. We will move on down the road.”

He then makes his way back to the garage, standing back as he watches the crew get the car ready to load in the trailer, just shaking his head with a sigh.

“Are you okay?” Alan questions as he walks over, and Chase simply nods his head quietly. “You can tell me how you’re feeling…”

“Disappointed, upset, pissed off,” he answers. “We finally start to get somewhere and this happens. Now in three weeks, we’ve wrecked two cars. Great start to the season, right?” Alan wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“On the flip side, we still have the speed that we finished last year with, and we were able to make headway at Atlanta where we struggled. We’re also headed to Phoenix, where I believe someone almost won last year. I’m not losing my faith in you or this team, ever.” Chase smiles a little as it was a nice pick me up from the crew chief. “On a much serious note, though, promise me you’ll take care of yourself this week. Get the much needed rest, relaxation, and do what you need for you. don’t even worry about tomorrow’s mee-”

“I’m comi-”

“The number one thing that matters is your health, end of the day. I’d rather you take the time to sleep in, relax, and focus on yourself before you have to jet off to California. Look at what you’ve been through this weekend. Take a step back, and properly handle things.” Chase glances down as Alan keeps his eyes locked on him. “I know what you told at Atlanta. Being able to sit in that trailer with me for a couple hours was the perfect distraction. I understand that’s why maybe that meeting tomorrow would be therapy. But what happens when we keep pushing ourselves and fall over the edge? We crash and burn, and it hurts worse. You need to take care of yourself, Chase. you need to get the rest that you need physically, and you need to find a balance with your emotions.”

“Do you realize how hard that is with everything going on?” Alan sighs, nodding his head.

“It’s asking a lot, but you need to do it for yourself, whether that means talking to Sarina, your parents, me, Jordan, or figuring it out yourself.” Chase nods his head, accepting.

“I’ll try, okay? And Alan, I appreciate the support. You’ve gone above and beyond.” Alan wraps his arm around his shoulders.

“I care about you, and while I want to win, that’s what matters end of the day is you.” Alan walks away back to the team as Chase closes his eyes, thinking over their discussion.

Taking a deep breath, perhaps the crew chief was right and onto something. Maybe the time away in Colorado was what the doctor ordered.

Monday March 5, 2018 – California

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Sarina questions, fixing her dress, before Chase pulls her close to him. He had grown used to her repeating the question pointless times over the past 24 hours, but wasn’t going to let it annoy him as he understood her nerves.

“I feel totally fine today – as if nothing happened this past weekend,” he answers, as she glances up into his brown eyes. “I’m serious. I haven’t felt a single thing.”

“And you’re not lying to me to make me feel better?” He shakes his head no, as he brings her left hand up to his ribs.

“These, they are a little sore still from those bruises, but they’re slowly getting easier to handle every single day. But as far as feeling sick, stomach pain, sore throat – that’s all gone.” She nods her head, accepting, as she instinctively begins to rub his side.

“For the record, I don’t want to ever see them pump out of your stomach again…” He made a disgusted face in reaction, certainly not liking the experience at all either.

“I don’t ever want to experience that again. The after taste of everything, along with my throat being sore, was just a terrible combination.” He then leans in, lightly kissing her lips. “Are you ready to go in there and face him, again?”

“He’s my brother, Chase. That’s my family. I brought this on myse-”

“It’s not your fault that you’re related to hi-”

“But I allowed him to open the door and get to you, again.” Chase nods his head, this discussion taking him back to Daytona immediately.

“What did I tell you originally? I don’t hold it back against you because I understand that want to give him a second chance, rekindle, do what you can. It’s the same reason Shelley is pushing this issue again despite everything being wrong with it. You don’t need to apologize, okay?” She lets out a sigh as she lays her head against his chest.

“It doesn’t make this any better….” He rubs her back, as he takes a deep breath. He was trying to keep his nerves at ease knowing that she needed all the comfort he could muster today.

“I know. Let’s just go in there, and get this over with, okay?” She nods her head, accepting, as they separate, hands still locked together as they make their way inside, and take their seats accordingly.

As they lead Chris into the room, Chase found himself looking everywhere but towards him, not wanting a single reminder of their past together as there was enough swirling his mind with relation to Alison to even begin to think about him. But he also clutched Sarina’s hand tighter, as if he was passing his strength onto her, knowing that this was probably tearing her in different directions as it had in the past.

As Chris gets set to sit down, Chase hears his phone go off, silently cursing himself for not putting it on silent as he was supposed to. He quickly reaches into his pocket, putting it on silent, but not before his eyes caught who had sent the text message.

“What would Jordan want?” He questions to himself as he opens the message, reading it in full. He then glances up and over towards Shelley, before glancing towards Chris, followed by his eyes looking back down at his phone. “Of course…”

“What’s wrong?” Sarina asks, catching his unease immediately.

“Noth-”

“Don’t lie to me, Chase Elliott.” He takes a deep breath as he shows her the text message.

“Alison left a message at Hendrick Motorsports’ doorstep after hours with a warning of her own. The secretary picked it up this morning, and it made its way to my office – catching Jordan’s attention obviously. He opened it.” Sarina lets out a sigh as she takes the phone, reading the photo of the message that Jordan had attached.

“Decisions are made by everybody each day of their life. Your decision today will affect not only the future of one person, but yours and those around you. It’s your move.” She hands him back his phone, shaking her head immediately. “She’s trying to guilt you into letting the motion go through about Chris by threatening you and those around you.”

“Well, she’s in for a rude awakening because there’s no way Chris is walking down those streets again.” He takes a deep breath, thoughts immediately swirling about the re-precautions of that, wondering what Alison’s next move would be, as quickly he texts Jordan back in return. “I’m done playing games. I told her that on Saturday. She’s going to try and drop a note off, or pull some move, and she’s going to get caught. We’re going to be okay.” He places his phone back in his pocket, wrapping his arm around Sarina as he pulls her close.

The judge came in, instantly reading off the request filed by Shelley. Chase and Sarina’s lawyer was asked whether the motion would be accepted, and the answer was simple – no, due to a laundry list of reasons.

“I have records of all the trial hearings from the past two years in relation to Chris’ behavior, and eventual guilty verdict with the stipulation in place,” the judge begins. “It will take some time, but I plan to read through everything accordingly. I also plan to have it analyzed by three third-party psychologist to get their opinions. Once all that is processed, we will re-join here and discuss my findings. Until that time, nothing changes in regards to Chris’ situation. Court adjourned!”

With their fingers crossed as they left the court room, they both hoped that the judge saw everything that they knew already. Chase held those fingers extra tighter, hoping that his thoughts in Alison being found came true sooner than later.