Saturday, February 8 – Daytona International Speedway
Climbing from the car following practice, a smile could be seen on the faces of everybody within the Hendrick Motorsports camp. They had the speed that they wanted from the single-car runs, timing in some of the quickest laps. They also seemed to continue improving throughout the full run, with the second run feeling smoother than the first, and less edgy.
“So are you ready to win another pole again this year?” Chase hears after a quick discussion with the team and chuckles as he watches Ryan walk over.
“We’ll just have to see what goes on tomorrow,” Chase plays it cool in response as he easily accepts the conversation. “We both know where it matters, though, and it seems the Fords have that figured out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chase.” Chase just rolls his eyes in response as it was obvious that out of the three manufactures, the Fords seemed to have the upperhand early. “If I recall correctly, didn’t your Chevrolet mates lead you to success last season?”
“That was April at Talladega, Mr. Blaney. You’re forgetting about what has transpired since then.” Ryan lets out a sig as he knew there was no way to possibly spin this conversation moving forward.
“As long as we’re both up front all weekend, that’s what matters. I vote we split the Duel victories like we did a couple years ago.” Chase smiles as that was certainly a great memory to have, despite the week starting off rough. “I was surprised that you and the Misses weren’t more busy during the winter.”
“I told you that we wanted to focus on each other and spending time relaxing.” Ryan nods, remembering the conversation. There were also other reasons for why they chose the approach that they did.
“So now that she’s perfectly healed up, when’s the midget debut happening?” It was a mix of a sigh and eye roll in response as Chase was getting annoyed with everyone asking the question.
“Whenever she makes the schedule work in the way that she wants. She has been discussing things with Christopher and Chad. We’ll see where it goes from here.” Ryan wasn’t about to argue as that seemed like decent progress.
“And you have no objections about those plans?” Chase shakes his head no, having all the confidence in Sarina’s ability behind the wheel and the safety of those cars. “In fact, I bet you’re actually jealous.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting my own chance, and have discussed it with Alex, but I’m not going to stand in Sarina’s way.” Ryan knew right then and there that was an act of question dodging.
“You’d think with you being Mr. Superstar that you’d get Rick to budge.” Chase laughs, as it seemed easier said than done. Besides, it wasn’t just the boss that stood in the way of that happening.
“Sponsors also dictate things too, sometimes.” A glimmer of light shined in Ryan’s eyes as he tried to bet what sponsor laid down the law with him.
“It can’t be NAPA as they sponsor Brad Sweet and it’d be a fun ride swap opportunity….” Chase just ignores the constant thoughts as he knew no matter what, he was spilling the details.
“Don’t you have a pair of children to be helping take care of? I mean, I feel bad leaving Sarina with Abigail totally by herself for awhile. You’re causing the double whammy here.” Ryan nods his head as he knew that he should get back sooner than later.
“That said, the four us need to get together – kids included – as I miss spending time with my bestie.” Chase glances over with a small smile as it was nice to consider themselves both still really close.
“We’ll make time, don’t worry.”
Saturday, February 8 – New Smyrna Speedway
With his eyes focused on the action once again at New Smyrna, Chase was caught off-guard in hearing his phone go off. Though with a deep breath, he could already guess what the text was before pulling it out of his pocket.
“Pulled 11 – decent but could’ve done better,” Alan sent him, following the crew chief draw for the Busch Clash starting positions.
“We can make it happen from there,” Chase replies, before placing his phone back in his pocket. Things were just starting to get interesting with the Pro Late Models as you knew chaos was ready to break out, and he planned on not missing that.
Just as he got back in his groove of focused, he hears his phone once again, rolling his eyes as he pulls it back out. What did Alan want this time?
“Are you available on Monday?” He reads the text message from Alycia and takes a deep breath. He could already tell where this was going. On one hand, he wanted to get this done and over with to assure no more letters or contact. On the other hand, he would prefer to never see Alison again.
“What time do I need to be there?” He sends back in response without any drop of hesitation, knowing it’d be best to get dealt with sooner than later.
“Starts at noon, so try to be there for 11 please.” He makes a mental note, before forwarding the message to Alan as the crew chief had been curious about the steps being taken going forward.
He then sent a message to Jimmie, asking if he wouldn’t mind watching Abigail, knowing that both his parents and Sarina would want to be there. He would prefer to handle it alone, but he knew it never hurt to have back-up and they were just as invested as he was.
“Not a problem, she can come to Disney World with the girls,” Jimmie sends back a couple minutes later without any questions asked. “I’ll make sure to send plenty of photos all day long.”
Sunday, February 9 – Daytona International Speedway
The longest day in motorsports was about to begin, as Chase stood on pit road by the back of the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet. He knew that they were going to be one of the last cars to go, meaning that he’d be waiting over an hour before he could go out and make two laps around the 2.5-mile oval.
“Is she allowed to be out here?” A question catches him off-guard as Alan walks over to where he was standing. “Or do we need to go give her a lecture?” Chase follows the crew chief’s lead as a smile instantly forms on his face in seeing Sarina stand behind the fence along pit road, holding their daughter in her hands. Abigail’s eyes instantly locked on her daddy with a big smile to match that of his.
“They’re fin-” Chase starts as Alan glances between the smiles that were being shared.
“Are you just saying that because you’re in total love?” Chase laughs, shaking his head no. It was a good observation, though, as nobody would want to end this moment.
“She’s been perfectly cleared to return to duties as normal, whether that’s taking care of Abigail, sexual, or racecar driving duties. Are you happy?” Alan nods his head, though was surprised at how matter of fact Chase was in stating the full list.
“Does that mean that you’re both back to those relations?” Chase looks over at the crew chief with shock written over his face.
“Are we seriously discussing this right now?” Alan shrugs his shoulders, not seeing any difference from the discussions that they had when Chase brought him his concerns. “I’m not doing this..”
“You told me last year, so I thought I’d ask…” Chase just rolls his eyes as he walks away and goes over to where Sarina and Abigail stood together. He then reaches his fingers through the fence, clutching her little hand with his as she begins babbling every little sound that she could.
“Has she started talking yet?” Matt Brandt questions, to which Alan shakes his head no with having heard no details from Chase or Sarina yet. “I’m surprised that she hasn’t said Dada yet.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that’s coming,” Alan replies, with a smile on his face as he watches the family together. “If she says anything before that, I’ll be surprised.”
“Imagine that she says Momma first.” Alan had to chuckle a little at the thought, but really believed that was probably mere impossible.
The wait would go smoother than warranted with family to keep him amused, though it was finally his turn to make his pair of laps in hopes of chasing the pole.
“Wind was gusting pretty hard,” he says afterwards, which showed on the scoreboard.
By a mere 100th of a second, they had missed the front row, meaning that they’d have to qualify through the Bluegreen Vacation Duel on Thursday.
“Alright, championship season,” Eddie starts off with the encouraging words on the radio. “Let’s go!”
Per the strategy discussed per the Busch Clash, the Chevrolets dropped to the back, running a single-file train behind the other manufactures.
“Just curious, can we run the bottom with any pace?” Chase questions, in hopes the message was delivered to his fellow manufacture mates. The message was, with William Byron pulling the line to the bottom of the track as they continued to follow strategy.
“What are your temps?” Alan wonders, knowing they might as well make notes if they weren’t doing much right now.
“Not sure why, but the temps are fluctuating quite a bit. It’s weird.” He would then run off what he was seeing for the time being, with a couple notes made on the pit box. Of course, none of these things made Sarina feel comfortable in wondering what could possibly happen next.
There’d be a late caution in the first stage of the event, with Chase and the group coming down pit road. Sticking to their strategy, they came back down once again under the stage ending caution to top the fuel up to ensure they had as much as possible.
They’d go back green, with the Chevrolets sticking to their strategy of running single-file behind everybody else, trying to use as little throttle as possible. It seemed weird to be playing fuel games at Daytona to Sarina, but she wasn’t going to bet against it if it worked.
“That last lap is what we’re looking for, however you did that,” Alan comments. “Keep saving, that’s the name of the game here.” Sarina could only let out a sigh as she tried to run the scenario over repeatedly in her hand. How was this possible?
“Long way to go, take care of that gas,” Eddie adds to the encouragement. “You ever see that Pearl Habor movie where they throw stuff out of the plane? That’s you right now!” Sarina had to chuckle as it was certainly the perfect reference.
The Fords and Toyotas would pit, ultimately handing the lead to the Chevrolet train led by William Byron. Though with the lead car obviously using the most gas compared to the others, he would give up to the lead, handing it over to Kyle Larson, who ultimately handed it over to Chase.
“Go to the back,” Alan instructs, not wanting to be the car that ran out of fuel due to pulling the train. They could worry about getting back to the front it when they knew that they were safe on their numbers.
The driver followed the request, against all other instincts, as it was still odd for both him and those watching including Sarina to see this happening at Daytona.
Ultimately with the Chevrolets trying to run as little throttle as possible to try and save gas, it’d allow the Fords and Toyotas to catch them despite pitting laps apart from each other. Chase would elect to drop to the rear of the field, wanting to stick with saving fuel, but also know that this racing action would ultimately probably lead to chaos.
He was right in his choice, as blocks traded by Joey Logano and Kyle Busch did not pan out, with them both wrecking and taking a couple others out with them. With the wreck happening, that threw the strategy out the window as Alan brought him down pit road, electing for four tires and fuel.
“It’d be nice if they leave us some laps here,” Alan comments through the clean-up process, to which Sarina agreed. With the way they were going, Chase would only have a handful of laps to make up the lost ground.
The restart would be no cleaner, with a couple drivers spinning tires and getting into each other. Somehow, Chase managed to swerve through the chaos without any damage, putting himself up to the fourth position for the next restart.
Once the green flag came back out, he would push the hell out of Denny Hamlin, putting him out front ahead of the field with Chase in toe. Though as they did that, Denny would go spinning sideways with a flat tire. Chase would go to avoid, but ultimately brushed the outside wall in the process.
“That was chaos,” he comments on the radio afterwards. “May have a tire down, it feels soft…”
“When you stop here, turn it sideways so we can get a view of it,” Alan instructs, knowing NASCAR would throw the red flag to clean up the ensuing mess in turns three and four. Chase would follow the instructions as requested, with the view on the backstretch confirming it. “Yep, bring it in once back under yellow.”
Sarina could only roll her eyes as she hated to see them give up the lead for anything, especially after all that effort by Chase to get himself up there through everything.
“Denny felt the contact with Kyle when that shit happened earlier,” she comments to Matt in regards to the earlier incident with Kyle and Joey. “Why wouldn’t he been smart and pitted?”
“Denny and smart doesn’t happen all the time,” Matt replies back, to which she had to chuckle even if he was back on her cool list.
She watches Chase come down pit road, getting the tire changed and fenders pulled out accordingly, before going back out. Despite her initial worries, she felt that they still had a chance in seeing they’d restart fifth, and other cars having damage around them.
Once again the pushing occurred on the restart, this time with Chase putting the bumper to Kyle Larson and pushing him out ahead. Chase would go to make a run on the outside, but Kyle would block, with contact happening, resulting in them both wrecking out – among others.
“Sorry about that,” Chase comments afterwards, earning a couple eye rolls on the pit box. In Sarina’s eyes, it was typical restrictor plate chaos and a bad block from Kyle. Chase had no reason to hold his head as he was doing what he needed to do.
“Sorry about what?” Alan questions afterwards. “You’re doing it, man! Keep it up!”
Ladybug's Fan Fiction 