Fast Cars and Fast Lives – Chapter 15: Rolex 24

January 31, 2021 – Daytona Beach, Florida

The siren blaring through the motorcoach sounded like it was piercing through Paige’s skull as she rolled over, throwing her pillow over her head. It just seemed to rip through her ear even more as it got louder, threatening to cut her brain in half, as she tried to focus back on the peaceful sleep she was having.

It was still dark out. Why was the alarm going off?

“Ugh, thank you!” She lets out in hearing Chase’s hand hit the button the clock, shutting off the stupid sounding thing. But it was too late as she realized it had ruined any chances she had of going back to sleep. Whatever happened to beauty sleep? “Did you forget to change it, or set it wrong? I mean, it’s middle of the night!!”

“We’re at the Rolex 24, remember?” He asks with a chuckle as he grabs his firesuit from where he had hung it in the closet earlier that night, hours before laying down and knowing he needed to get some sleep before his next stint. He needed to make up for the disaster he had the first time around.

“What time is it?” He glances towards the clock, with a sigh of his own, knowing he couldn’t keep wasting time as he had to be ready and out to the grid in a timely fashion before his stint. Couldn’t be showing up late and messing up transitions and schedule on top of failing to drive properly.

“2:15. I need to be out of here by 2:45 as I have a shift in the car, anywhere from 3 to 3:30.” She lets out a sigh as she kicks the blanket off of her. While bed was nice, and she had been enjoying her sleep, she wasn’t about to miss his next turn behind the wheel – she’d kick herself for the next 24 hours if she did that. “You don’t have to get-”

“I know, but I want to. I want to watch my man do his thing behind the wheel.” Chase glances over himself, tossing his jeans on the dresser.

“Oh, really? I’d think you’d want to watch someone who knows what they’re doing here.” She lets out a sigh, used to him being hard on himself at times – the same way she was hard on herself about things. While she couldn’t escape her own thoughts, or utilize advice from others, it seemed it was different with Chase. She normally convinced him to change his tune with some words.

“Your first stint wasn’t that ba-”

“You’re not supposed to bang the car off the bus stops and what did I do? Pretty sure I did it more than one lap, probably damaging the car underneath – hence the lack of pace. Then on top of that, my laps weren’t worth a damn as I could just never get into that rhythm I needed. Who runs almost two seconds off of their teammates?” He grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge, along with a snack he had made prior to laying down in bed that night. He then sits down at the small table, taking out his phone to check on updates, only for a pair of hands to land on top of his.

“How many years have Pipo and Felipe been doing this? They’ve been doing it a lot longer than you have. It’d be the same if they came over and jumped in your stock car as I bet they’d overshoot every corner, and not be able to wrap it around a curb like you do. Everybody said that – this is totally different than anything you have driven, even Jimmie told you. It’s going to take time to get used to it.” He takes a deep breath, remembering all of those conversations as he tried to soak up whatever advice anybody had seemed to offer prior to the event. He understood where she was coming from, but it did not erase the sting of the first stint.

“I was worse than I was in practice. That’s pretty ba-”

“It was your first time under race conditions at night, and you’ve even said it yourself – you can never judge fully based on practice as race conditions and practice are two different animals. Rather than sit here and let it sting you in the ass, look forward. You have another opportunity coming up. You have another chance to get behind the wheel and prove it to yourself. Take a deep breath, relax, and find your groove. Remember if you can show a little bit of improvement each time on track, you’re doing something right. That was your first ever Rolex stint – nerves and everything combined, it’s understandable what happened. That’s why Felipe didn-”

“He was just trying to be nic-”

“Felipe, Pipo, Jimmie, even Kamui – not one of them said anything wrong to you afterwards or was upset or yelling. Instead, they offered advice as to how you can improve. That should say something as they understand where you’re coming from and know, just like me, you are going to learn, get better, and do much better this time around.” He smiles a little as it was certainly comforting to have this discussion ahead of his time in the car. Maybe he should relax a little.

“I’m going to give it my all and hopefully it’s enough. I just hate that I am costing them so much time and this isn’t just about this week for them, but a championship down the road this season. I don’t want to be the guy that fucks it up.” She finally releases his hands, knowing he was coming around and totally screwing up his schedule was not going to help.

“You aren’t going to be that person, Chase. This is a long race and a lot is going to happen before the checkered flag. That’s why the first stint is already forgotten about with everybody set to see improvement this time around.”

It wasn’t long before they shared a kiss and he was headed off to the infield to get ready for his next shift in the car. With a hot chocolate in hand, Paige made her way out of the motorcoach and decided to take a walk down that area of the infield to check out some of the action under the lights a little closer.

It was almost like she felt a breath of fresh air, weight lifted off her shoulders as she walked around. The same words that she had offered Chase in taking a deep breath, soaking up the mistakes, soaking up advice, and trying again rang through her head a couple different times.

She had been focusing so much of her energy on whether she got this one exact position with this certain company, pressure to get to it, fear of failure and not being able to support herself. She had been focusing on ensuing she was totally taken care of, not taking a full glance around in realizing what she had with Chase and it was different than her parents – and perhaps accepting his offer to support if necessary was okay for a little while.

Pulling her phone out as she leaned against the fence watching the cars scream on by, she begins to glance through the other places hiring, seeing if there was anything that fit her interest. She pegged a couple to respond later accordingly, before opening up her e-mails. She brought up the last correspondence with her boss, remembering his frustration surrounding her lack of desire to cover the stories he wanted, upset she wasn’t okay with his direction, and not understanding why she was so focused on her boyfriend.

She knew from watching her parents unhealthy relationships were not good for people – they awoke unhealthy traits for those surrounding them, whether in emotions or actions. It was all about cause and effect. You could watch everything go down and do nothing, dwelling into a messier place with more pain as she had witnessed with her parents, or change the tune and take a step forward.

Taking a deep breath, she knew there was no turning back once sending this e-mail – and possibly sending it at 3am after getting out of bed from a half-sleep not long ago was not a good idea. But remembering the words and knowing she wasn’t about to go back down any ugly words, this was something she had to do.

January 31, 2021 – Los Angeles, California

“Damn it!” Emily curses as she watches Felipe take the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac behind the wall after reporting it was stuck in first gear.

Her heart broke immediately for the whole team, in having watched them work hard from the drop of the green flag and knowing the time behind the effort. It even hurt more in realizing Felipe and Pipo had began to make up the time lost, and were putting themselves back into the thick of contention. Heck, it was only an hour ago when Felipe almost got the lead off of a restart.

She could only imagine the emotions the group would be experiencing, but at least thankful that Chase had Paige to comfort whatever may come. after all, Paige always did a good job taking care of her, managing to ease every single question or fear that she had.

So why couldn’t she bring up this question for her?

After discussing the closeness of family and relationships with Noah, she couldn’t help but wonder where her family was – and if anybody was out there somewhere. With the mess her parents created and Paige solely focused on ensuring no more pain came their way, it seemed getting close to other members of the family was something she never got to see happen.

There was the aunt that took them in, but it wasn’t like she remembered much except for her name and address. She had tried the phone number – home and cell somehow ingrained in her mind, but both of them did not resonate with any results. With the move down to North Carolina, all touch with her was lost without a trace.

When she was real little, she vaguely remembered going to a couple weddings, seeing those who appeared to be cousins, but yet she couldn’t place a specific name or detail to make ‘em stand out. What if it was just her imagination to help ease everything else?

With all the pain her parents had caused them, bringing up anything family related was something Emily avoided at all costs. She didn’t want to bring Paige any reminders of the pain they had been in, not wanting to bring those emotions to her sister in knowing how much they tore at her alone. Considering Paige didn’t talk about anything else, it was probably going to be an empty answer anyway.

Though it seemed when an idea came to her mind, she couldn’t get rid of it unless she did something about it. It was the same way with her clothing designs – she had to get them out in a scrapbook or else they’d haunt her.

She knew allowing this to haunt in the same way would probably not be a good idea, as eventually it’d bring reminders of everything that happened – and nope, she wasn’t interested in that.

She then thought about messaging Sam, and seeing if she could look into the question for her. However, that brought a new fear – what if Sam shared the details with Paige? What if Sam pried for more information? There was too much risk there in sharing at this moment.

It was why she sat before her computer, loading ancestory.com, hoping it worked just as well as she seemed to hear in the commercials. She begins following the steps requested – type in her own information, her parental information, any family she knew so hence her sister. She then hit the key in hopes that something would come up successfully.

No direct matches found is what appeared before her screen, which meant there was no family tree in which they had been plotted on by someone else. Considering her parents weren’t the social type, all thanks to her father’s hand probably, that explained why they weren’t known by others out in the world.

However, her hope wasn’t ruined completely in seeing a list of names appear before her which shared the same last name, Porter. It sounded like a common last name, so that was probably there were several hits, but what if one of these individuals were connected to them in some way?

It was why she began to narrow down the list, typing in her aunt’s name to get eight different Porters who lived and died around the world. She tried to narrow down by location, but that still left five names on her screen as it removed the three who did not connect. These one didn’t all connect though, as some of them listed their location as unknown, but at least the ones who for sure weren’t left her screen.

She was then intrigued in seeing all five of them held an account on the website, or someone had an account connected to the name. It was then with a deep breath she clicked each one individually, sending a message in trying to intrigue some memories.

Hey, my name is Emily Porter. I am trying to find some family, and I lived with an aunt as an teenager with your name after my parents were gone – me and my sister Paige. I was wondering if you were that individual as I’d like to reconnect after these years and possibly meet more family. Hope to hear from you.

January 31, 2021 – Daytona Beach, Florida

Chase climbs out of the car, quickly hopping over the wall and out of the way as Mike Conway climbs into the Cadillac to take back out on track for some more laps.

He walks over to the scoring monitor as he slips off his gloves, glancing over the lap times he had posted through the session. He had been asking on the radio for them here and there, as well as comments whether they felt he was really hitting something good or quick tips of advice – it was all about getting laps for when he came back next time now.

“Those aren’t some bad laps there Clyde,” he hears and smiles immediately as he knew that voice from anywhere. Besides, there was only one person in the Action Express Racing pit that would call him that – Jimmie Johnson. “Did you feel more comfortable that time?”

“I think I’m starting to finally get the rhythm that I was trying to describe to you,” he offers, even pleased with himself as he looked them over. If you combined the average of everything, it was a couple tenths quicker than his previous time in the car during sunlight. You could also progressively see some of his sector times were quicker the second half that stint, showing he was applying what he learned the first half accordingly. “Now it’s just about getting into the hang of putting full laps together consistently, and continuing to get more braver with the braking zones.”

“I could tell you what Dario (Francitti) told me while we were testing the IndyCar – don’t brake until your eyes almost out of your head. I tried what he said, and I picked up a couple tenths that day at Sebring.” Chase smiles as he had to admit it was nice to see Jimmie enjoying this next phase of motorsports career, even if he was going to miss having him as a teammate to lean on this year.

“So I heard you missed your perfect sunrise drive…” Jimmie nods his head, remembering the discussion with his fellow drivers and engineers. With having seen images from other years, and the majestic look of the sun rising as he drove, he had always dreamed of doing that stint. However, it was agreed upon by everybody it wouldn’t be the best idea quite yet.

“Both Kamui and Simon told me that it’s a lot harder to see than you think, sometimes more difficult than night, due to how the sun glare works as it rises up in the sky. When it’s just over the horizon, it tends to be blinding – and when you’re not used to that and not the best driver – they didn’t want to take the chance.” Chase nods his head, both of them working with their teams enough to enjoy and have fun in the cars, but not wanting to ruin the whole team’s chances.

“Do you guys have something for the (Wayne Taylor Racing) 10?” Jimmie glances at the monitor, having originally believed they did with Kamui set to close out the day and being the best lap time wise. However, it didn’t seem as though the gap between him and Ricky Taylor was shrinking.

“I think we got bit by some strategy and just not having enough downforce to be able to run them down on the straightaways. But I think if we give up some there, it’ll be too dancy through the infield portion.” Chase could understand that, as it had been a discussion on the No. 31 as well during their battles with front end tightness at night. “It was nice for Felipe to give you an extra stint for more experience.”

“That’s what he told me the focus was – gaining more experience as with each lap I have behind the wheel, I continue to get better. He says might as well take a negative and turn it into a positive, which is a free test session. I hate it, though. I know it’s got to suck for them knowing they have a hole to climb out of right out of the box.” Jimmie nods his head, as he knew no racecar driver wanted to start off their season with mechanical issues. It was all about creating the right attitude and positive momentum.

“Pipo and Felipe are smart, and this is a long season. They have enough speed as shown last week to pop off wins and you know once you get a few of those, everything falls together.” Chase smiles, knowing that’s how it seemed his championship run came together with confidence growing more and more right to the checkered flag at Phoenix. “Hey, if I don’t get to see you after the rac-”

“Well, I hope we don’t spend too much time after the race because I want to see you celebrating in victory lane with your teammates.” Chase hated to throw the idea out there and count the chickens too early, but he knew what that group was capable of and the time left to make it happen.

“Anyways, I wanted to ask you about how things are going with you and Paige. Did you guys talk about what we said last week?” Chase lets out a sigh, shaking his head as he takes his phone out at that thought, wondering if she had sent him a text knowing they had swapped drivers.

“I’ve been so busy preparing for this weekend, plus doing productions shoots that we haven’t had a chance to truly sit and talk about it. I want to talk about it, I want to assure her that I am willing to be patient and understanding and comforting for her worries and everything, but if I’m not doing one thing, I’m doing another.” Jimmie puts his hand on Chase’s shoulder, knowing he wanted to ensure it didn’t become too late by the time he did something.

“If you need time, you can make time as there’s always time for a conversation with someone, even if shorter than you would possibly hope. Make time, Chase. If you love her as much as you say you do, you can make time to ensure everything is squared away. I wouldn’t want her to sense something up due to your nerves about things and get scared and walk away from you. That said, if you need someone to talk to, you have my number.”

Jimmie then walks away, returning back on the timing stand alongside Simon and Mike, leaving Chase to think about those words.

Fast Cars and Fast Lives – Chapter 11: Difference of Opinion

Friday, January 22 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Paige taps her fingers on the edge of the keyboard, shaking her head as she opened her e-mail inbox for what seemed like the millionth time.

Why hadn’t they messaged her back? Did it seriously take this long to review a resume and sample work to decide whether she’d be a good fit?

Taking a deep breath, they probably read it and denied her. They probably thought she was either pushing too hard with emotion and not enough substance, or did crappy sloppy research. Better yet, they thought her writing just purely sucked – period.

All the compliments she had gotten from friends, past colleagues and professors were just to flatter her – or perhaps because her friends felt bad for her given the life story. Maybe her colleagues just flattered her because they wanted to be nice in the office and not cause issues.

Flipping through her e-mails, she goes back to the last one from her current boss, and read back over the words. It seemed he was getting frustrated with her lack of contribution, saying her boyfriend’s schedule and time off was a poor excuse for lack of creativity, lack of material. He wanted to know when to expect her back contributing articles.

Taking a deep breath, she could already see the writing on the wall. He was going to probably fire her within a couple of weeks, sick of the pity games and having to flirt her ego. He could probably find someone who would do a much better job, anyway, considering they’d actually want to do the beat and probably bring a more intriguing story to the table.

It was all like all of her fears were coming true all together at once. Her shoulders felt like they weighed a ton of bricks, her world closing in, the pressure that she feared ultimately causing her to cave underneath it.

She used to thrive in these moments. It was in her parent’s worst actions she learned her strength, taking the bull by the horns, learning how to run her life her way and making things successful – while taking care of her sister in the process.

What was happening to her? After all, she had allowed her sister to run off to a different country in a pandemic with someone she’d only known for not even a full month. Thankfully, everything went fine – except for Emily getting sick with food poisoning.

She glanced over towards the photo on the mantle, smiling as she thought back to how magical it was to be at Phoenix Raceway with Chase, how amazing it was to see him crowned a Cup Champion. It had been the culmination of everything in his life – living up to the pressure and expectations, pushing it all aside to perform in the moment he most needed to.

He was also a great person to spend time with, as the chemistry was there immediately. For the first time, she could easily share things with someone – her likes, dislikes, some of her feelings – without holding back. It was also nice to see him do the same in return. They also understood each other, knowing focus on work would sometimes take precedence with possible travel getting in the way – like this weekend with him being in Florida.

Though all she could think about was their most recent conversations, in how he wanted to be there for her, support her, take care of her, and offered to do everything if necessary.

Was she becoming too dependent on him before he suggested that? Could she honestly survive on her own without him? Was she still the same independent woman as always?

Glancing back at the computer, she knew suggesting a break and time apart to reassure those questions would never go over well. He’d fully question it, push back against it, and it’d probably be the end of them – she could never handle that heartbreak.

Therefore, she was left with no choice to succeed at her goal, land that next job, and ensure her future in another way. It was why she found herself loading job search websites, seeing what magazines were currently in the process of hiring – hopeful of finding something in the field she wanted.

Given that her background was survival, strength and pain, she wanted to bring a refreshed approach. Her ideals on journalism were to be involved in lifestyle, sharing the good hearted stories to make people feel better, inspire them, help them so they could never feel the way she felt.

Who wanted to publish those types of stories?

Friday, January 22 – North Carolina

Alexa walks into the shop, standing in the doorway as she watches Alex kneel down alongside one of the twin midgets, totally invested in the rear suspension components. She absolutely loved watching him work and be in deep thought as she could stand there for hours, but that wasn’t an option today.

There was a conversation to be had.

“What are you doing?” She questions, catching his attention as he lets out a sigh.

“Trying to figure out what we can do differently,” he answers, as he thinks back through the past week. The Chili Bowl certainly lived up to expectations in relation to the party as there were a lot of drinks consumed and laughs to be had; he had missed being able to do that with friends. However, the performance totally sucked as neither car made the A-Main despite having caliber drivers that certainly knew their way around a car.

“I wouldn’t be bummed out about the performance. You said it yourself to Chase – the best of the best race there every year, guys that do this all the time and masters of their craft. Being able to get to the B, even C there is like making the primary event anywhere else.” She hated to console him right now, but she couldn’t just leave him totally frustrated.

“I know, but I feel that I let CJ and Jake down…” She felt her guard falling quickly in seeing the disappointment as he stood up and backed away from the car. Why did he always have this affect on her no matter what she was upset about?

“If those boys felt that, they would let you know. You’re all in the same boat together. We’re just going to need to dig our heads a little deeper, do some more testing, and work out what we need to do.” He smiles a little, as the vote of confidence was certainly welcomed.

“I still owe you a Midget test. I haven’t forgot.” She smiles, knowing that was a good takeaway from the week. However, a deep breath, and she remembered the argument that led to the discussion happening. It was where she shared some of her secrets in relation to disappointment and her parents – which probably led to what happened. Taking another deep breath, breaking out in yelling wouldn’t get her anywhere right now.

“I appreciate that, but I have something to ask you first. Why did you call my father?” The color instantly drains from Alex’s face in hearing the question. Did he seriously run to her about the phone call?

“Can I know what he sai-”

“Answer the question, Alex Michael.” Alex knew she was angry when she resorted to calling him that.

“The relationship between you and your mother breaks my heart, from seeing it firsthand to hearing you talk about how it’s affected you. Caring about you and wanting to help you, I want to do what’s best for you – hence why I reached out. I wanted to see if there was any way that I could help improve the relationship. They’re married, so he knows what makes her tick and has a soft spot for you, so maybe he knows where to find one in your mother.” Alexa couldn’t help but laugh in response. There was no way in this world that her mother had a heart.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you called my father?” Alexa knew what her father said, and didn’t believe those words – but was more pained to first hear of the conversation from him than Alex.

“I wanted to do this on my own, to help you. Considering the conversation didn’t go anywhere, I did not feel the need to say anythin-”

“It would’ve been nice to have a little warning about my father calling me to offer his thoughts on you. I mean, I’m used to him calling me, offering comments, wanting me to do something – this or that, trying to bribe me anyway he can with his millions. However when I answered his phone call, I had no idea that instead this time he was ready to chew your ass out and offer his stern, strict opini-”

“I’m sorry, Alexa…” What else was Alex supposed to say?

“Sorry for what he said, or sorry for not telling me? Truthfully, I’m not surprised about his opinion of you. He thinks any guy that tries to get near me is only because of him and mother. He thinks that everybody just thinks of money and nothing else – hence the accusations that he probably offered you. But it’d be nice to hear these things first from you so I’m not totally caught off-guard.” Alex nods his head, still unsure of what to say next. Why couldn’t relationships have a handbook just like racecars?

“I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t think of the fall-out in that regard as I didn’t expect him to immediately phone you and offer his opinion on our conversation. I thought it was just a dead end, nothing more to be said, and was going to look at this a different rou-”

“Do me a favor, and just drop the whole topic. I grew up with my mother. I lived in that house for 16 years, Alex. I can assure you that there’s nothing that will make her crave or do anything that you’d like to see. Hence why it’s better to just handle it the way it is – cordial visits, conversation about careers to a minimum, and moving forward with our lives. Is that understood?” Alex slowly nods his head, biting his own tongue in the process.

He couldn’t believe it was totally lost hope as there was always something that made the sweetness, happiness extend from someone. It was just finding the key.

Friday, January 22 – Daytona Beach, Florida

“Chase!!”

Chase hears his name shouted, slightly surprised as he didn’t see himself as someone that’d be gathering attention from fellow competitors in the garage this weekend. However, the voice also sounded familiar.

He turns on his heels, a smile forming on his face immediately in seeing the white firesuit come closer to where he was now standing, knowing he could never pass up this conversation.

“So, now that you have gotten your own laps, what do you think?” Jimmie questions, in reference to the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona practice they had just completed that day. Chase had finally gotten his first laps behind the wheel of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Prototype, with some decent success.

“It’s going to be a couple badass fun days,” he comments with a chuckle, only to receive one back in return. “I thought I was prepared based on the simulator, but it just feels so totally different than anything I’ve driven.”

“Just wait until you get your hands on an IndyCar and you’ll be even more shocked.” Chase shakes his head no, knowing his plate was certainly full right now in learning how to drive this car – along with still wanting to learn more in the midget.

“I think I’ll pass on that oppor-”

“Seriously? I thought you’d be all over it considering you also have mentioned wanting to try a sprint car one day.” Chase remembered the conversation they had about it, though knew it was probably a good idea to push that back. It turned out dirt was a lot harder than he expected it to be – just look at the Chili Bowl experience. “Let me guess – Paige is afraid of the danger.”

“Oh no, not one bit. She told me that the reigns are off and I’m all good to play because she knows she can trust me.” Chase lets out a sigh as soon as those words leave his mouth. She could trust him behind the wheel of anything he wanted, but yet wasn’t totally possibly there elsewhere. It just didn’t make sense. “Any way of convin-”

“Should I be concerned about you and Paige? The last time I saw you together, you both looked quite content in each other’s arms at Phoenix.” Chase could only shake his head at the thought, realizing the last time they had really spent time together in-person was in November. A sigh, and he knew seeing less of Jimmie was something to get used to, even without COVID around. He knew he could handle things, but it was nice having him there for advice as he always seemed to offer what was necessary. “Chase?”

“We’re still together, in love, everything is peachy-”

“Save the bullshit and get to the point, Elliott.” Chase couldn’t help but smile – that was an exact example of it right there, as Jimmie always saw through and knew where to go with the advice.

“She tells me that she can trust me no matter what. She tells me that she loves me no matter what. She tells that everything together is a reflection of what we have together – but yet she then says she can’t let everything go and put it in my hands. She can’t let the security of her own life, and just totally trust me with every single piece of the puzzle. How do you wrap your arms around that?” Jimmie thinks it over, remembering each of their conversations prior. He had originally helped Chase with advice in how to get Paige to open up about her family’s history.

“You told me that her father ripped everything apart with her mother, and ultimately caused the pain she could barely share with you. That may be removed and she may have moved on from then, but that pain never leaves you entirely. It sits there in the back of your heart, ready to remind you in every moment. Those comments are just a simple reflection of that.” Chase nods his head, having already figured that out based upon Paige’s words. Thus far, the advice was falling flat on it’s face.

“So how do I work past that? How do I make it so she can totally trust me without a single comparison or thought to what happened?” Jimmie looks over at Chase, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer – but what other choice did he have?

“Time. Time is the only thing that heals all wounds. You can’t just say something or flip a switch and everything be totally fine. It’s just like when they say you should take the time to grieve, or time to think through a decision. But through that, you need to be there. Be strong for her, hold her when she’s emotional, assure her when she’s afraid, remind her of how much you care, and keep building the foundation. If you keep doing that, then with time you’ll build the pure respect and trust that you want to see.” Chase lets out a sigh, having figured that based on everything else thus far with Paige. It didn’t mean he was happy about it, though.

“Thanks, I guess. I just wish I could erase everything for her, you know?” Jimmie nods his head, wrapping his arm around Chase’s shoulders.

“Absolutely, because for the woman you love, you’re always willing to do whatever it takes to make them feel better. It’ll work out, Chase. She loves you – and I know you’ll treat her right.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 347: Food City 500

Wednesday, April 1 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Sarina walks into the room, clutching Abigail in her arms, letting out a sigh as she watches him. it was like babysitting two children lately with him.

“I thought you were going to finish the living room shelfing upgrades today,” she comments, as Chase nods his head. Since being home consecutive days for a change, he had been taking to completing a bunch of the odd and end projects around the house that they wanted to tackle. After finishing up some kitchen upgrades, re-doing the shelving in the living room was next on the table.

“The shelves did not get delivered as expected,” Chase comments, having seen the original shipping indicate they’d be delivered today. “They’ll be here tomorrow so it’ll get done then.” Sarina wasn’t surprised as shipping delays seemed to be the name of the game, with everybody ordering from home due to unable to go out. However, that still didn’t explain the sight before her.

“Don’t you have a race this weekend to be practicing for?” He lets out a sigh, as that was certainly on the mind after last week’s struggles.

“I put in some laps the past two days, and I’m sure they’ll be more tonight. I haven’t forgotten.” Sarina was about to roll her eyes, but she went with the theory as he stated it.

“Don’t you have some fortnite missions that you need to complete?” He shakes his head no, as those were definitely done and completed, rather quicker than normal. It almost felt weird to not be stuck on the last couple still.

“I think I overplayed that in the first couple weeks…” Sarina admittedly had to chuckle in watching that addiction develop. “Do you want to just state what’s on your mind, instead?”

“I thought we were going to be spending more time as a family during this time off…” Chase lets out a sigh, as he did remember stating those words. He thought he had backed that up already with plenty of fun family moments.

“I have been spending time with both of you. Are you just mad that I am playing Call of Duty? You always seem to bug me while I’m playing.” Both their eyes focus back towards the screen, in watching his character get shot.

“Finally! That was my plan all along.” He just rolls his eyes, picking it up a pillow ready to throw, but resists in seeing the cute little girl in her arms.

“I see how it is, using Abigail to keep you safe…” She just lets out a wink as he focuses his eyes back towards the screen.

“Actually, I came to let you know something important. Wendy e-mailed me today.” Chase’s finger immediately hits the pause button, as his eyes focus on her. Whenever Wendy reached out, it was always something to pay attention too. “All visitations are cancelled for the foreseeable future, including our house safety visit and meetings, as well as anything with future adoptee candidates.”

“I’m not surprised considering everything else is pretty much closed.” Sarina nods her head, having grown used to the current status of things.

“Now we are supposed to do classes, as you recall. She mentioned that you need to do at least so many hours in-class, but for the total amount, you can do so many onli-”

“We talked about that already, as it’d be a better option with our schedules.” Sarina nods her head, as she recalled that conversation before.

“She says that we can do some of the online classes during this hold-up as they’re still doing those, so that way we’re continuing the progress somewhat.” Chase easily accepted the offer, knowing that some progress was better than none.

“Well, you can check the times and we can figure out something that works for us both and do it.” Sarina nods her head, accepting, as that was her plan already.

“Do you promise to slot that in between your video games?” Chase smiles, blowing her a kiss immediately.

“You know that I’d do anything for you and Abigail….”

Sunday, April 5 – Dawsonville, GA

A new format was unveiled for this week, as the drivers would run a pair of qualifiers ahead of the main event to set the field.

Chase started off strongly, running inside the top-10 and having fun, including a bit of back and forth with Ryan.

“Sorry buddy,” Chase comments with a chuckle afterwards as he slides up in front of him.

The move would allow him to get fifth, and for once, he seemed to be on his way to a good finish in this event.

“Ah come on!” Sarina lets out, though, as she watches Chase ultimately get wrecked, getting caught up in an incident triggered by Jimmie. “Seriously?!? And he decided to show you love today with your shirt. Seriously?!?”

She lets out a sigh, watching him ultimately end up finishing 14^th in the qualifier, setting him up to start 27^th in the main event.

“I was making my way through the field, and I tried the slide job on Matty D, and got all squirrelly,” Jimmie recalls shortly thereafter as Sarina wants to roll her eyes, still annoyed it happened. “Then as I was trying to gather it up, I wrecked my teammate. I’ll try not to do that again.”

“I would hope not,” Sarina comments to herself.

Things would get messy right off the start of the event, with Chase getting caught up in the Lap 1 fiasco started by Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher.

“This is a pure shit show,” Chase comments as he lets out a sigh, knowing that it probably wouldn’t get smoother moving forward.

Despite his predictions, there was some progress made as he got up to the 20^th position, actually feeling some promise as to where he could end up when this event was done.

Further up the track, though, Ty Dillon would bounce off the wall, ultimately then bouncing off of Chase. Chase would then get up into the wall, before contact with Ty Dillon resulted in him getting flipped upside down.

“How is that humanly possible?” Sarina questions, shaking her head in disgust as she watches it happen.

The same look was on Chase’s face as it returned him to pit road, sitting in the car. He then went to hit the reset button, ready to go once again, though nothing happened.

“I think we’re done here,” he comments, glancing around slightly confused as normally nothing would cause the reset to not work. “I guess we’re done.”

“Are you seriously done?” Sarina questions as Chase sits down beside her on the couch, nodding his head in return.

“I went to use the button and it didn’t work,” he answers as she shakes her head disappointed. “I was actually finally starting to get somewhere today.”

“Willie B can still kick your ass.” He just rolls his eyes, used to the William Byron digs by now.

“Oh well, it gives me a chance to watch this chaos with you…” He then wraps an arm around her shoulders, smiling as Abigail sits in his arms.

Chase finishes up putting the dishes away, leaning back on the counter with a smile.

“Would you mind if I played a round tonight with the boys?” He wonders, to which Sarina shakes her head no. She had grown used to him having some fun that way.

“If you’re okay with me having a girly conference,” she replies, to which he shakes his head no back in return. “Lindsay wants to chat about some things, and then I promised a catch-up with Samantha.”

“Tell them both that we miss them.” Sarina had grown used to the sentiment, offering a nod in return. Chase then snatches his phone off the counter, glancing over the notifications. “Seriously?!?”

“Do I want to know?” Chase was actually surprised that Sarina hadn’t seen the news first.

“It seems that Bubba Wallace’s sponsor has dropped him due to rage quitting this afternoon.” Sarina looks on, admittedly surprised. “I mean, it’s just a video game and I understand being frustrated after being wrecked twice…”

“But they did agree to sponsor him, and he left the video game early, while displaying a fit of rage in the process. If you own a company, is that the image that you want to portray?” Chase shakes his head no but still couldn’t believe the news before him. “Then I can understand why they did it.”

“It just seems like a big gross overreaction.”  Sarina couldn’t help but nod her head in agreement, even if she understood the reason.

“To be honest, it kind of serves him right for his attitude. I mean, I still haven’t gotten over what he did to Alex.” Chase looks over at her a little surprised, as he didn’t expect that to be brought up again.

“Seriously?” Sarina nods her head in agreement.

“He may be your friend, but that whole situation still pisses me off – on top of his other antics. Sor-”

“You can have an opinion, either way, it’s fine. I understand your sentiments.”

Tuesday, April 7 – Dawsonville, GA

As he had done the previous nights, Chase was set to begin another night of Call of Duty streaming, knowing some laughs with the boys were well needed once again.

Though as he got set to begin, he heard his phone go off. While he’d normally ignore the notification, he decided to check it this time.

“The paperwork has been drawn up and submitted to the courts in relation to Alison,” he reads the message from Alycia. “Things are slowed right down now so be prepared to be waiting weeks for a response. Once I hear something, I will let you know and a court date will probably be formed up for us to attend. Again, it’s up to the judge, Alison’s lawyer, Alison, and the psychiatrist as to what happens moving forward. I hope you thought this over properly.”

Taking a deep breath, Chase knew why she was delivering the warning her way. The simple thought of Alison brought flashbacks and shivers to his mind. However, a glance towards the living room and he knew this was necessary.

“Trust me, I know this is necessary,” he replied back.

While that was certainly on the mind, a focus back on the screen and some laughs reminded him that he could worry about it later. For now, he could have some fun with his friends.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 342: LS Tractor 200 / FanShield 500

“If I get back to the 2, he’s not finishing,” “I’m tired of fucking with him.”

Saturday, March 7 – Phoenix Raceway

Chase looks over at Alan, as the pair share a smile and a high-five. They knew they’d be good for qualifying, and it showed as they had scored themselves a pole for Sunday.

“There’s Mr. I wish I could get a pole at non-restrictor plate track,” they hear and chuckle as Jimmie walks over to them. it was the song of last season until Chase was able to do so at Bristol Motor Speedway. “It seems that you figured out the secret now.”

“It helps when this guy gives me a good car,” Chase comments with a glance towards Alan in the process. Jimmie couldn’t but help as it seemed chemistry and performance were strong between these two.

“So how about sharing those secrets with 7-time?” Chase glances up the scoreboard, seeing Jimmie had qualified 21st.

“I think you’re pretty smart as I do recall you starting on the front row with Alex last week.” Jimmie smiles as it was certainly nice having him and Alex lead the field to the green flag at his last trip to Auto Club Speedway, on top of all the other honors shared that day.

“I told Alex that he should’ve shared the win with me as a going away present.” Chase chuckles, though had to admit that would’ve been special. However, it brought up the other bittersweet memory on the table.

“Are you sure that you can’t come back from at least one more year?” Jimmie ponders the thought, but ultimately shakes his head no.

“I’ve been doing this long enough. It’s time for a change of scenery and a  chance to accomplish some other goals. Don’t get me wrong, I love stock cars and this has been an amazing experience. But the chance to drive an open-wheel car, to run the prototypes – I want to do it all before I finally hang up the helmet.” Those words made Chase ultimately cringe as seeing Jimmie totally walk away from racing would be a whole other heartbreak all together.

“You could be like Bill and be doing it in some form forever,” Alan suggests, as Chase smiles. It was certainly fun seeing his dad get out there with the vintage racing and having some fun behind the wheel.

“Dude, he needs to share the foundation of youth that he drinks from to do everything he does,” Jimmie comments, which Chase nods his head in agreement.

“I think you know the secret, considering how fit you are and how you’re always doing something yourself,” Chase offers, in relation to Jimmie’s work-out routine and ability to do marathons. “I still can’t believe how much you train and do stuff.”

“It’s sort of a fun escape for me, in a weird way….” Chase wasn’t about to argue about that. “Besides, keeping myself fit and healthy is always a good thing, especially when you have strange things going around. Be careful while you’re out and about, and traveling through airports.”

“Are you referring to the new virus going around?” Jimmie nods his head, having read that on the news recently. It was something that peaked his interest in knowing how many tourists are in New York at a time and worries of possibly catching a strain while up there. It’s why he shared the concerns with Chandra, stressing for her to be careful.

“I mean, I know it’s not a big deal here yet, but it wouldn’t take much to get it if it is going around with all the traveling and people that we see. It’s why I told Chandra to just be careful when she’s up in New York.”  Chase nods his head, easily accepting the concerns from his teammate.

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind then. I mean, it is interesting how quickly it is spreading through China and the UK.” Jimmie couldn’t argue, as that what peaked the concerns.

“And with spring breaks coming up and people traveling to Europe, or those from Europe traveling to the United States, it could spread very easily. I’m surprised that there really hasn’t been anything said much about it yet, despite it being a hot topic in the world news.” Chase thinks it over, as it was intriguing a little.

“Perhaps it’s being blown out of proportion…..” Jimmie wasn’t about to agree just yet, but simply could see that as a possibility.

“But still, better safe than sorry. Have fun smiling for the cameras.” Jimmie then heads off as Chase takes a deep breath, knowing that he would probably be a little later than originally planned for the Xfinity Series pre-race and such now. However, no complaints as he’d certainly accept that in getting the pole for Sunday.

The strong qualifying effort paid off as Sarina and Dave wanted, allowing her to run up front throughout the day. They were even able to find the track position that they wanted en route to scoring the victory in the second stage.

Ultimately, though, she faded back some through the final stage of the event, crossing the finish line with a seventh-place finish.

“One week a time, one top-10 at a time,” she comments after the race with a high-five for Dave. “We’re doing what we said we wanted to do in making progress. I also can tell you right now that if we’re in that Championship 4-”

“No if, but we will be,” Dave reminds her as he had full confidence in both his driver and team right now.

“We’re going to have a strong piece when we come back in November to crown the champion. I know where we lacked in parts and lost ground, and given how we ran all day, we’ll be there in the fight. I’m ready for what’s to come.” Dave smiles as it was always a nice confidence boost in seeing this reaction from her.

“Patience, young grasshopper. We have a long season before we get to that point….”

Sunday, March 8 – Phoenix Raceway

“Let’s have a good one today, appreciate the effort fellas,” Chase comes across the radio over the pace laps. If everything went to plan, that was certainly going to be the case as Sarina truly believed in his chances given previous Phoenix performances, combined with Hendrick’s success thus far in 2020 and Chase starting on pole.

“Just do what Alex did last week and we’ll be golden, she comments to herself with a deep breath, ready to get this show on the road.

Chase would start off the event strong, holding off Kevin Harvick through the first 58 laps off the pole until the caution came out for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. going around.

“So just been kinda free trying to keep it off the right front,” Chase tells the crew as the yellow flag comes out. Alan wasn’t about to complain about that in knowing how important tire wear was and appreciate his driver in taking care of equipment. They had a long way to go, so why screw it up now? They would come down pit road, ultimately losing the lead as Kevin Harvick beat them off.

“We made an air pressure adjustment,” Alan informs him. “Let us know if that improves.”

Restarting in the second position, Chase was unable to get back around Kevin for the lead, finishing there for the first stage. Sarina wasn’t about to complain, as it was still very early in the race and lots more would probably happen before everything was said and done.  It was certainly a good start, though, in having track position and a good handling car.

On the restart to start the second stage, Chase would snag back the lead from him, but didn’t hold it long as he was re-passed by Kevin just 15 laps later. it’d be the start of the fade, as he’d ultimately fall back to fourth over the following laps due to Brad and Joey being on newer tires. No complaints from Sarina for now, though, as she believed in the strategy that Alan had chosen.

“I’m definitely better,” he comments over the radio. “It’s all about that unloading moment. If I get it right, then it’s good. But sometimes I don’t. the problem is I’m tighter center off than I was on the last run.”  Sarina was surprised in how detailed the feedback was, but could see why he was having the issues that ultimately led to him fading  back to sixth by Lap 56 when the caution came out.

The pit crew would go to work, making the adjustments as requested by Alan and giving their drivers four tires and fuel, with a 12.9 second stop.

“TV says you got him,” Alan says as Chase barely beats Brad off pit road to take back the lead.

“Nice job fellas,” Eddie comments, to which Sarina had to agree as she witnessed the crew sharing high-fives all around.

“Nice job there guys, that was nice,” Chase adds, keeping the confidence and peep in the team high.

The restart would go slightly messy, with Brad Keselowski giving him a shot as Martin Truex Jr. decided to try and go three-wide at the same time. Everybody was able to hold on, with Chase snagging back the top spot 15 laps later.

“Nice clean track for awhile now,” Eddie comments, to which brought smiles from Sarina. She knew with clean track ahead, combined with a fast car, they could pull away and lead the rest of the way for the stage. It certainly made handling any nerves easier. “Nice clean smooth laps. I’ll keep you posted, just take care of it. No pressure now.”

Chase would build himself out to a decent lead, which built confidence for Sarina in knowing that they were looking good as they went later in the event. it just added to the thoughts pre-race as she could truly see the day ending with celebration in victory lane.

“I have a loose wheel, thinks it’s the left front,” Chase reports over the radio about halfway through the event. The comment brought a combination of worry, anger, and disappointment for Sarina. It seemed whenever Chase had things going his way, something screwed it up – whether on-track or the pit crew. Was this seriously happening right now? “Going to have to come this time.”

As the race hits the halfway mark of the event, Chase would bring the car down pit road, giving up the track position and ultimately going a lap down to the leaders. Sarina tried to remain calm, knowing they still had time to get back on the lead lap and salvage a good day out of this. However, she couldn’t help but feel a combination of frustration and disappointment in watching yet another win this season appear to be slipping away.

“How many laps to go in this fucking thing?” Chase questions over the radio, ultimately sharing the same frustration that Sarina was feeling right now.

“30 in the stage,” Alan informs him as he checks in with the pit crew members to see what they found when Chase came down pit road.

“Was it loose?” Sarina could tell by the looks on the crew members’ faces that it was as they certainly shared the disappointment in what happened. She knew that extra practice time and review would be on the docket for the week ahead.

“Yes.”

“Left front?” Sarina could only why Chase wanted to harp on it as if it really mattered. No matter what tire, it had screwed them out of the position they had put themselves in.

“Right front.” Sarina was surprised to hear Chase’s guess had been wrong, but knew that’s why when you pitted, they always changed four and not just two in case for that reason.

Currently a lap down, Chase would begin to push towards making up the lost ground, passing Kevin Harvick who was currently scored in the second spot. They knew that either by passing the leader, or staying in the right spot for the lucky dog, they would get back on the lead lap. It was also certainly promising to see him drive this quickly to the front as it showed the speed – but also added to the heartbreak, too.

“Just keep haulin’ ass,” Eddie encourages him as he begins to close the gap on Joey Logano.

“We should get the lucky dog now,” Alan predicts as he keeps tabs on timing and scoring to see who was a lap down, and how close Joey was to lapping the next driver. Sure enough, his prediction was right as the caution flew on the last lap of the stage, allowing Chase to get back on the lead lap virtue of the lucky dog. Sarina takes a deep breath, knowing that they still had plenty of time with the speed they had to get back in this thing. “You did the right thing pitted with the loose wheel. There’s 120 laps to go, plenty of time to catch-up. Four and fuel, half up on the track bar. Just think back not burning your stuff up here when we go back green.”

Sarina didn’t know if Chase missed the memo, or the car was just that good, as he seemed to waste no time once the green flag was back up, going from 25^th to 12^th in just seven laps after the restart. The climb continued, with Chase making his way up to ninth when the caution came out on Lap 214 for another car blowing a motor.

Smiles and signs of promise were all there in watching him go from eight on the restart to fourth. However, she knew that there was still room for improvement with Chase saying the car was tight in handling as he tried to chase down the next car. He’d push a little too hard, or perhaps the handling was just that ugly, as he caught the wall off the corner.

“Got the right side a little bit there,” Chase reports shortly thereafter to make the team aware. Sarina couldn’t help but think back to how the little bit of contact for Denny a couple years ago resulted in a flat tire. What if the same happened to them now?

“Copy, let me know if it drives different,” Alan comments, which was the usual words from the crew chief.

“Its’ right at 11 o’ clock,” Eddie explains as he gets a glance at it from the roof. “It boinked it in, but it’s not rubbing.” Sarina couldn’t help but chuckle at the word, but was glad in the spotter’s assessment as that meant the tire was probably safe and they could keep the position that Chase had worked his ass off for.

Shortly thereafter, the pit crew would get a closer look at the damage as the caution came out for Erik Jones having an issue with 61 laps to go. While down pit road, they elected to fix the fender, resulting in Chase fading from fourth to eighth.

He would make up some of the lost ground on the restart, moving up to sixth, but was unable to make up much more ground. Considering the day that they had, Sarina wasn’t about to complain if that’s how it played out as it was a good finish considering how they’d been through the field all day long.

However, they’d get another chance, with the caution coming out with 55 laps to go for Tyler Reddick going around.

“I don’t want tires, staying out,” Chase makes the call over the radio, truly believing that track position was going to be critical here. No complaints from Sarina as a solid handling No. 9 made her believe that her driver was right, and restarting second was never something to complain about.

The restart would result in chaos, as expected, with Brad Keselowski making contact with Chase in the process. As a result, he would fade back to sixth before another yellow flag, this time for Chris Buescher.

“If I get back to the 2, he’s not finishing,” Chase declares over the radio, to which brought no arguments from Sarina as she was completely pissed about the contact as well.

“I’m tired of fucking with him,” Alan spits out, to which brought smiles all around in seeing everybody in agreement to hate Brad.

“He’s a dipshit, always has been….”

Under the yellow flag, Chase would come down for four tires – and a little damage repair once again, allowing him to restart 16^th with 30 laps to go. The progress would be slow moving forward, with only being able to get up to seventh by the next yellow with nine laps to go.

“Gonna have to go like hell on this restart,” Alan declares over the radio, to which was obvious by all accounts. Sarina knew that was a gamble in happening as Chase and restarts wasn’t always the best method for success. Her prediction proved right, as he ultimately didn’t make up any ground, finishing seventh. “We hurt ourselves today, gotta clean it up.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 339: “So you think you can steal the bounty, huh?”

Friday, February 28 – Los Angeles, California

The group walk out of the concert hall together, with Ryan still humming some of the songs.

“So, what’d you think?” Chase questions as he glances over at Jimmie. After some careful convincing, the pair had convinced Jimmie to tag along with them. Ultimately, it was a good decision as he certainly added a fun layer to the night out together.

“I told you that I’d heard Whiskey Myers before and thought he was good,” Jimmie answers as he looks over. “Seeing him live, it adds to that respect as he puts on a good show.” Ryan and Chase couldn’t help but nod their heads in response, as that was why they had made sure this was one of their stops this season.

“All I know is somewhere on the way back to the track, we got to stop for food,” Ryan comments as Chase could only chuckle, chalking it up to a typical Ryan response.

“I told you having those drinks without food would come back to bite you,” Chase retorts, earning a flip of the bird from Ryan, which just made him chuckle in response.

“Why don’t we get some tacos?” Jimmie suggests, pointing to a taco truck that was parked out front of the venue. The pair of friends could only look at him with a bit of surprise. “You said you were hungr-”

“I was also taught to not trust tacos from questionable places, or they may come back to bite you,” Ryan interrupts, to which Chase chuckles. Certainly some of their questionable Mexican place stops through the years had resulted in some careful lessons learned.

“See, what you don’t know is that California has some of the best street food, especially taco trucks. It actually puts a lot of Mexican places to shame.” Ryan looks over slightly concerned as he glances over at Chase.

“Your call….” Chase smiles as he looks over at Jimmie, having grown to trust him a lot through the years on a lot of levels.

“I’m game,” Chase comments as Ryan lets out a sigh, still unsure about this.

The group got some tacos together, before heading off to make their way back to the track that night.

“Please tell me that I was correct…” Jimmie says as Ryan looks over, still with a slight look of concern.

“They taste absolutely delicious – as long as I don’t need up in the bathroom all day tomorrow,” Ryan replies as Chase couldn’t help but laugh in response to some of their memories. “Lindsay swore the last time that he took me out that she was kicking me out of the house if that happened again and frankly, I don’t blame her. Those stunk.”

“Trust me, Sarina was ready to kick me out to the doghouse,” Chase comments as he thinks back to that experience. “But these are good so Jimmie, I have to give you credit.”

It wasn’t long before they were back at the track, and headed for their respective motorhomes. Chase couldn’t help but smile as he walked inside and through, seeing Abigail had passed out  – hopefully easily – in her bed. Though the smile grew as he made his way to the back bedsroom, seeing Sarina curled up on the bed comfortable with her notebook in her hand. Chase recognized the book immediately, knowing that she was spending the night getting down some writing.

“You know it’s impolite to stare without saying hello,” she comments as she takes her eyes off the page to look up at him. She had heard the door open, and part of her tingled in fear initially, though she let it go in knowing had happened lately and it was probably him.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you or break your concentration,” he replies as he makes his way into the bedsroom, sitting down beside her. He then leans in, snagging a kiss. “How is it going?”

“I actually made some good progress tonight. I finally got down to writing everything that happened prior to meeting you, and those initial feelings that I felt and those fears.” Chase was intrigued to see how those turned out on paper, having remembered everything that he felt through those days. “Being able to take a break for awhile was exactly what I needed, but I just felt inspired tonight. So I decided to sit down, and get some more words down on paper. I can safely say that I have the history of myself, combined with the beginning stages of the journey to Abigail. Now it’s just writing the rest and then tiding everything up.”

“Well, I believe in you and know that you’re going to do a great job because you’re that awesome.” She just rolls her eyes, having grown used to the flattery comments. “I’m serious. Anybody that can go through everything you’ve gone through, and want to be open about it and help others, is amazing and inspiring. I also know that you can write well, as I recall some special notes that you wrote me. I absolutely believe that everybody will enjoy reading this once it is released.”

“Well, maybe just maybe, I’ll let you be the first person to read the first draft.” He looks on with a little mix of surprise, as he was expecting that by default. However, he also understood how tight lip she had been about the process, in only sharing details with Samantha and Dale thus far.

“I look forward to when I am able to do that…”

Saturday, February 29 – Auto Club Speedway

Sarina lets out a sigh as qualifying finishes up, seeing the No. 9 Chevrolet ranked 12^th on the speed charts. With how practice had gone the day before, she expected to be closer to the front, perhaps in the top-five or on the pole.

What the heck happened?

“Staring at your phone won’t give you the answers to why you can’t qualify well,” she hears, glancing up from her phone with a chuckle as Justin Allgaier stood there.

“Then please, wise one, share Daniel’s secret,” she replies, having seen that Daniel Hemric qualified fourth.

“Unfortunately, I do not know the secret or else I would’ve qualified right there with him. But hey, take a deep breath, relax. You know that you have the best handling car of the group and can run whatever groove you want. You’ll be fine today.” A smile forms on her face in the words of advice from Justin.

“Thanks for letting me know, but trust me – we’re on the same page. That’s why I am not dwelling on it and focusing on other things.” Justin looks at her slightly intrigued, almost now really wondering what she was looking at her on her phone.

“For the record, I’m not interested in learning my teammate’s bedsroom secrets…” She looks up with a mix of shock and horror on her face as Justin just breaks out laughing. “The only thing I can hope is they’re good things that you’re focusing on.” She nods her head, not fully wanting to open up about it just yet.

“Trust me, if this goes to plan, then they’ll be a lot of smiles everywhere.” The comment just made Justin that much more intrigued as he watched his teammate closely.

“Care to share the details?” She takes a deep breath, shaking her head no. Normally, they had been pretty open about everything. However, she couldn’t take a chance of him saying something to Chase before she said something.  “Hey, that’s cool. I’ll just say that whatever it is, good luck….”

She smiles in watching him walk away, turning her eyes back to the e-mail. She knew that she shouldn’t take the next step in doing this, but there was no harm yet as it wasn’t like she was setting things in stone here.

“Thanks for the response,” she begins typing as she takes a seat on the pit wall. “I appreciate you explaining everything. Just say that I wanted to move forward and we were going to take the approach of having you choose someone in-house, how would we go about making that happen?”

She takes a deep breath, battling the insecurities of trust in involving a stranger. However, she knew that there was nothing to worry about yet. This was just about finding answers for the future in case, the same way they initially begun the adoption process. Perhaps these answers were what she needed too, as assurance in response could erase the initial concerns that she was experiencing.

Although single-car qualifying was certainly much better than the group format, there was one downside – waiting for your turn when you weren’t until near the end. Letting out a sigh, that was the situation Chase was stuck in now as he stood on pit road, watching each car go out one by one and run their two laps, awaiting for his chance to qualify.

“So you think you can steal the bounty, huh?” He hears, chuckling as he had expected a visit from Kyle at some point this weekend following the announcement. Considering they were both awaiting their turn, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

“Absolutely,” Chase comments, letting the confidence lace his voice despite having some doubts. After all, he hadn’t run as much as the intermediate truck events as Kyle and he knew that Kyle had his stuff figured out. “I’ve won a couple races in my own right, actually have a pretty win percentage, and I did beat you at Atlanta a couple yea-”

“I ran into some issues, and didn’t my driver Christopher Bell beat you ultimately?” Chase nods his head, having hoped that Kyle would not have remembered that slim detail. “Just because I like your wife doesn’t mean that I am going to make this easy with you.”

“Ah, see that’s another advantage. She can share all her secrets from when she drove for you, too.” Kyle just rolls his eyes, knowing that Chase was playing the game pretty well right now. “Look, I don’t expect it to be easy and I know that it’ll be tough to beat you, but I’m up for the challenge.”

“I’m actually excited to race you, truthfully. I think we can put on a battle, even if I rate Kyle (Larson)’s odds better than yours.” Chase couldn’t argue with Kyle about that, as everybody knew how strong Larson was at Homestead through the years, no matter what he drove. “I was actually surprised when I saw your entry.”

“As I told Sarina, it’s better than sitting on the couch twiddling my thumbs as racing at Atlanta is always fun, no matter what I’m driving.” Kyle couldn’t help but smile in agreement, having the same feelings about hometown racing in relation to Las Vegas. “As soon as Kevin dropped the bounty, I screenshotted it and sent it to Maurice and asked if we could work something out. He was on-board right away, as well as Hooters.”

“It doesn’t surprise me, either. It’s a win-win situation for everybody as the exposure that this is gaining even has surprised me.” Nobody could  argue that, as the bounty was the talk of the garage with everybody wondering who else was going to step up at Atlanta.

“Even if you chewed Kevin’s ass out at first about why he did it?” Kyle laughs, as he thought back to his media availability and answering questions about the bounty.

“When have you known me to not mess with Kevin? I’m sorry, but he’s an easy target.” Chase laughs, as they had certainly traded a nice line of comments back and forth through the years. From the outside looking in, it was certainly entertaining to see what they had to say for each other.

“As long as you don’t mess with Delana, I think you’re safe.” Kyle thinks it over carefully, debating his response. “As Joey learned, she wears the firesuit in the family.”

“Actually, I think these days that job belongs to Keelan and Piper.” Chase couldn’t argue, having seen everything that they were doing with the kids lately. It was something that he looked forward to in the years to come as Abigail got bigger.

“I can’t argue as Abigail has already taken over my heart and everything in my house.” Kyle smiles as he couldn’t help but think back through the struggles that he watched Chase and Sarina endure. It was nice to see them happy and enjoying being parents now.

“From what I can see, you’re both doing an incredible job. Just make sure to savor every single moment. You both earned it.” Chase nods his head, having heard that advice from plenty of people to date, but let it hit home every single time. He just needed to think back to January in the bathroom with her to remind him of that. “Now, good luck trying to beat me today.”

“That should be easy…” Kyle just rolls his eyes as he walks away with Chase just smiling. It was certainly going to be fun at Atlanta in a few weeks.

For now, they had this weekend in California to focus on. Considering how he practiced, there were no complaints about qualifying 12^th as he believed they could certainly work with that following the progress made in practice. And for the record, he had managed to out-qualify Kyle as he predicted, with him starting 17^th.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 332: Daytona 500

Sunday, February 16 – Daytona International Speedway

Sarina lets out a sigh as she watches the cars ride around the track. Here began another season of racing.

Though she couldn’t help but shed a smile in seeing the president’s car roll around the 2.5-mile oval. It was certainly a spectacular way to begin a race season on a high note, even if his appearance shuffled the schedule more than warranted.

“Riding around waiting on the here,” Chase comments as they continue to make pace laps around the speedway. As much as she wanted to see the race get started, she couldn’t help but agree with a glance towards the radar. She even was shaking her head at them climbing into the cars after the anthem, but knew it was all about maintaining a certain image with the president on the grounds. “It’s sprinkling now.”

“Looks like it’s picking up down there,” Eddie D’Hondt comments shortly thereafter, causing Sarina to let out a long sigh. After the rain they dealt with on Thursday, this certainly sucked.

“Yeah, it’s over her – like wet wet…”

NASCAR would make the decision to bring the field down pit road, giving up hope on the green flag for the time being. Nobody was about to argue as they saw the rain drops getting harder. Sarina could only cross her fingers that it stopped sooner than later and they got started.

After watching the rain fall down, followed by a delay drying the track surface, it was time to once again give it another try. Shock was written on Chase and Sarina’s faces as they made their way to pit road as any common sense and a glance at the radar said that this wouldn’t be lasting long.

“You should’ve just stayed back with Abigail,” Chase comments as they reach the race car. Sarina had thought about that, certainly wanting to savor every moment with her, but knew that she couldn’t stand to watch a restrictor plate race from that vantage point. She barely got through that experience last year.

“I want to be out here to support you,” she replies, leaning in to kiss his lips. “Besides, she’ll be happy spending time with Cindy. I love you. Be safe.”

“Love you, too.” Chase leans in, snagging another kiss, before climbing back into the No. 9 Chevrolet.

Sarina climbs the steps, assuming her usual spot on the pit box, with a nod traded between a couple of the crew members. Taking a deep breath, she just hoped everybody was smart for whatever laps they got in before the next wave of rain.

“Radio check, can you hear me?” Chase says once he is out on the track for pace laps.

“10-4 I got you,” Eddie comments, which was off-course as normally Alan handled the first response. However, Sarina couldn’t help but chuckle as she glanced towards the crew chief on the pit box.

“We can hear you down here,” Matt adds. “Alan is just busy stuffing his face.” A chuckle could be heard through the team as a result, as Alan glances over at Matt rolling his eyes.

“One to go at the line, one to go at the line.” Sarina could only let out a sigh as she knew that this could get very interesting with everybody knowing that rain was coming, again.

“Sure don’t look very promising,” Chase comments, to which she had to agree as she took another glance at the sky above them. You could see the dark clouds not far away beginning to close in.

“10 laps.” Everybody on the team was certain that Alan would be close on his prediction, as they watched the field get set for the green flag in the Daytona 500.

From the drop of the green flag, Chase would try to work his way forward through the pack, but nobody seemed to want to work with him. As a result, frustration could be heard on the radio from both driver and also Eddie as he tried to work some alliance on the roof.

“Nobody wants to go,” Eddie relays, to which Sarina couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was beginning to quickly get annoyed at these restrictor plate races watching this repeatedly happen every time.

“Rain’s close, let me know your temps,” Alan tells him as they put 18 laps on the board.

“It’s raining…” Chase reports shortly thereafter, as it seemed everybody was surprise by a lack of caution on NASCAR’s part yet.

“I can feel it, too.” Alan glances towards the pit road officials down below them, with Sarina half-expecting him to throw something at them.

The caution would ultimately come out a couple laps later – Lap 20 – as NASCAR finally recognized the weather situation. It did not take long for them to once again bring the cars down pit road, parking them once again.

“I should’ve bet you double or nothing,” Sarina comments as she climbs off the pit box with Alan, who could only chuckle in response.

“We seem to be the only smart people in Daytona.”

Chase lets out a sigh as he stands up, walking to the back of the motorcoach.

“Where are you going?” Sarina wonders as she takes her eyes off of Abigail just for a second.

“Drivers have been called to their cars,” Chase answers, to which she looks at him full of confusion. “Morgan just text-”

“Has NASCAR lost their minds tonight?” Chase glances over at her a little confused as he slips his shorts off. “Have you seen the radar?” Chase nods his head as he slips off his t-shirt, reaching for the firesuit.

“That’s why I gave up hours ago and took the suit off. But they want to try and I can’t just not listen or else everybody from Morgan to their officials will be on my ass. So here I go, changing once again.” Sarina knew what he was saying, but couldn’t help but let out a sigh as she looks over the radar.

“There’s a storm mere miles out and Chase, we haven’t seen rain yet if this is any indication. It’s getting set to pour.” He nods his head as he walks over, leaning in to give both Sarina and Abigail a kiss.

“That’s why I think you should just stay here because I’ll be back in a matter of time.” He grabs his phone followed by the umbrella, before heading out for the walk towards pit road.

The prediction that both he and Sarina had was right on cue, as the skies opened up halfway through that very walk, dumping what seemed like buckets of rain at once. He could only let out a sigh and roll his eyes as he turned on his heels, beginning the walk back to the motorcoach, feeling bad for the crew guys in knowing they were probably out on pit road right now.

Monday, February 17 – Daytona International Speedway

With a pre-race bathroom trip out of the way and knowing they were getting back started soon, Chase made his way back towards to where the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet was sitting on the grid. After having to wait all night long, it was certainly worth it with the weather taking a total 180 degree turn and no rain in sight. Now it was just about getting the job done when it counted today.

As he almost reaches the car, he feels a tug on his pant leg, catching his attention. He couldn’t help but smile as he knelt down to Lydia’s level, always loving the time they spent together, but felt a bit of concern in not seeing Jimmie and Chandra.

“Does your dad know where you are?” He questions, catching her attention. He felt a bit of concern in not seeing the usual smile on her face.

“I told him Chase,” she answers with a shrug of the shoulders, as if that didn’t matter. Though Chase knew that wasn’t the best way to teaching her moving forward, either.

“That’s good, but is he coming with you? Or is your mommy coming over?” She then shrugs her shoulders once again as Chase takes a deep breath. He hated to ruin the spur of the moment, but couldn’t help but feel the parent in him coming out if Abigail would pull a similar stunt when she was older. Besides, you could never be too careful. “You can’t be just running off without an adult. There’s a lot of people and things happening, okay?”

“I was watching her the whole time,” Jimmie interrupts the pair, finally joining them. While she took the running approach, he had walked over. “She saw you walking by, shouted your name like twice in my ear and asked to come say hello. I couldn’t say no.”  Chase was glad as their pre-race discussions were always fun.

“As long as she told an adult and they were watching, that’s what matters,” he comments, to which Jimmie couldn’t help but smile in response. It was fun watching Chase grow up watch before his eyes. “So you wanted to come see me, huh?” Lydia nods her head. “Why?”

“I wanted to say good luck!” She lets out, before wrapping her arms around his legs, to which he easily wraps his arms around her in return. “I hope you win.”

“Hey, what about me?” Jimmie questions, to which Chase had to chuckle in response.

“Daddy can finish second.” Chase couldn’t help but chuckle a little more as Jimmie just smiled in response.

“Well thank you, and I hope that we can do that today – or maybe if I can’t then daddy can win with me second,” Chase comments, to which Jimmie nods in response. It’d be nice to see the teammates work together.

“Okay,” Lydia says as she glances between the pair of adults surrounding her. “I love you, Chase.”

“Love you too, princess.” He then stands up, locking his eyes on his teammate. “I am going to miss these moments next year. You’re going to need to come to some races just so I can spend time with her.”

“Don’t worry – I won’t be totally disappearing,” Jimmie replies as he scoops Lydia back up in his arms. “Besides, maybe she can come for some sleepovers and play with Abigail.”

“Yay!” Lydia lets out as it seemed no sleepover with Chase was a bad thing for her.

It didn’t take much longer for the call to be made to have drivers get in the cars, and resume the race from where they left off. Sarina couldn’t help but take a couple deep breathes, knowing that no rain in sight meant it was going to be full throttle from here on out to the end.

“There’s water in the car,” Chase comments as they run under the caution flag. Sarina couldn’t help but be slightly confused in knowing that the team got the chance to wipe everything down between last night and today, among a couple other things. Weren’t they done with rain? “Something to do with the hatch.”

“10-4, we’ll give you a rag here to help,” Alan replies with a glance towards Scott as they both knew the reason for the water. Sarina could only wish that they’d share the details with her, too. “Come to us, we’ll stop you back, four tires and fuel.” Chase makes his way down pit road, with the No. 9 team putting together a flawless pit stop before he rolled back out on the track.

“Good work boys,” Eddie offers, to which Sarina had to nod in agreement.

“Come on back to us here. We’ll top you up quick.” Sarina couldn’t help but roll her eyes she hated these strategy games on the plate tracks, and wished they’d have track position rather than at the back. However, she knew the plan was to stick with their Chevrolet running mates.

The plan worked out accordingly, though, as they were able to get lined up together and make progress moving forward with Chase taking the top spot ahead of Jimmie and Alex. It seemed his pre-race prediction with Lydia was paying off right away.

“We okay on gas?” Chase questions, as Sarina immediately has flashbacks to the crazy strategy tried in The Clash. She hoped the Chevrolets weren’t doing that mess all over again.

“We’re right on the number,” Alan answers, to which Sarina let out a sigh of relief. That just meant that he needed to do his job and lead the train to the stage checkered, which seemed easy of enough given how they were running.

It wouldn’t turn out that smoothly, though, as the caution came out for contact between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and William Byron, ending William’s Daytona 500 right then and there.

“It never fails with Ricky,” she comments, to which Scott and Matt chuckle beside her.

The restart would go smoothly, though, as the HMS teammates left in the event worked well together with Chase scoring the stage victory. Not a bad way to start the season.

“What you did there was great,” Alan tells him, to which Sarina had to nod her head in agreement in seeing some very smart and calculated moves. She hoped those continued through the rest of the way as she knew they’d end up well if that was the case. “Four tires and fuel.”

Restarting mid-pack after the pit stop, Chase once again made his way back forward the top-five.

“I feel like we’re learning a lot for the end,” Eddie comments, to which Sarina couldn’t help but nod in agreement. It was nice to see the moves out of the No. 9 thus far through the event as it showed more promise than the Clash and the Duel.

There’d be a small incident on the backstretch, bringing them down pit road for “right sides and fuel” under the yellow flag. He would restart fourth, and battled hard to the checkered, though ultimately fell back a couple spots to finish seventh.

Coming down pit road under the caution, the crew would go to work once again for four tires and fuel, though the fuel can was caught in the car as Chase left pit road. As a result, he would be penalized for removing equipment from the box.

“Come to us, we’ll top you off,” Alan instructs, to which Sarina figured was all they could do now. With a deep breath, she felt confident in their ability to move their way back forward as Chase had been making moves all day long. However, it was never comforting seeing him running middle of the pack. “You need anything else while you’re here?”

“Not at the moment my friend,” Chase replies, to which Sarina couldn’t help but smile. That meant he was comfortable and ready to go work, and she was ready for the show – as long as she could keep her nerves under control.

Restarting at the tail of the field, he work his way back to the front carefully, ultimately back up to fifth with 40 laps to go in the event. Any nerves that she had rumbling through her slowly removed in seeing how confident and easily the moves seemed to come here.

The pit cycle would begin under green, with the Toyotas beginning the cycle, followed by the Chevrolets. Everything would go smoothly under the pit stop, with the group getting back together relatively quickly.

“Here we go – game on,” Eddie offers the cheering words of the day. Sarina couldn’t help but get pumped as she knew things were rolling right if Eddie was getting excited. “We are coming to the party, boys!”

He was would get himself back up to fourth with 20 laps to go, barely avoiding the big one five laps later. Logano would give Almirola a shove, causing him to go forward and into Keselowski. The contact would then cause Keselowski to go sideways into the outside wall, before Almirola came back down across the track, taking the car running in sixth behind Chase with him. Sarina couldn’t help but take multiple deep breathes, in knowing just how close they were to their Daytona 500 chances ending right there.

“That was close….”  Eddie comments, to which Sarina couldn’t help but agree.

“When we stop here, turn things off one at a time,” Alan reminds Chase as they put the red flag out. “Then turn back on one at a time when we get going again.” Sarina knew the procedure as it was the typical recommendation due to everything being hot and just being careful, though knew a reminder in the thick of the battle was always a good thing.

Knowing they’d restart third with 10 laps to go, she couldn’t help but feel the nerves building through her as she tries to takes a series of deep breathes. She just needed to believe in him, as he was talented and knew he was doing. Everything was going to be okay.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 329: Bluegreen Vacation Duels

Thursday, February 13 – Daytona International Speedway

All the anticipation for that night’s Bluegreen Vacation Duels was put on hold, with a light rain show bringing forth a brief delay as the officials dried the track.

Although the situation sucked, Chase figured that he might well as make the most of it, spending time with Abigail and Sarina. As they were hanging out, Jimmie came over to join them.

“Someone convinced me to come say hello,” Jimmie comments, catching Chase’s attention as he smiles. He glances over at Lydia, easily accepting the hug from her.

“She knows that she can always come see me,” he replies, as he keeps an arm wrapped around her shoulders. “Are you ready for tonight’s race?” She nods her head yes.

“Will you win?” She questions, to which Chase smiles back in response. It was the usual question that she posed him each week.

“I’m going to do my best, okay?” She once again nods her head in agreement. “I heard that you had fun at Walt Disney World.”

“I saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie, and Goofy. Goofy was the best.” Chase had to chuckle, knowing how much she loved dogs. It was what led to Jimmie getting his puppy.

“I think Goofy is pretty cool, too. Was Abigail a good girl for mommy and daddy?” Lydia glances over at Abigail in Sarina’s arms, and nods her head yes.

“We played together.” Chase couldn’t help but smile it was nice to already see the bonds being formed. Though a glance at Jimmie, and he knew this was going to be one of the many things that he missed next year. “Can she come over again?”

“I’m certain that we can find some time to spend together tomorrow, okay?” A big smile forms on Lydia’s face as she nods her head in response.  “Thank you, Jimmie, once again.”

“It’s not a problem,” Jimmie replies as he glances over at the female watching the group from a small distance. “I am going to assume that she’s the lady you met with.” Chase follows Jimmie’s lead, nodding his head. “Well then excus-”

“Jim-”

“I am just going to say hel-”

“You don’t need to do anything.” Jimmie takes a deep breath, as he realized the intentions from his teammate.

“I know, but I want to do this – for you and for Sarina.” He then makes his way over to where she was standing, holding out his hand. “I would like to introduce myself, Jimmie Johnson. I heard that you met with Chase and Sarina yesterday about the potential adoption.”

“Wendy Arnold, and you are correct,” Wendy replies as she shakes Jimmie’s hand, having watched the whole scene just before her. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Johns-”

“Please, just call me Jimmie,” he easily starts as he looks back towards where Chase and Sarina were with Abigail and Lydia. “I just wanted to come over here and say thank you. Thank you for giving them a chance at expanding their family, and thank you for taking the time to come down here and spend it with them. I can assure you that they have the best intentions in mind, and they’re easily two people that you can trust. As a matter of fact, I would trust them watching my daughters any day.”

“I appreciate the vouch of character, Jimmie. I can see that your daughter there has formed quite the bond with Chase.” Jimmie looks over, and nods his head. He had to smile as he thought back to some of the moments the past couple years.

“Chase is always up for spending time with her, and treating her not as just some kid, but yet someone special. He really gets down to her level and appreciates the time. He’s actually babysat for me a couple times, too, and Lydia always has fun at their sleepovers. Oh, and not for the reasons that may come to mind in thinking he spoils her as he doesn’t. But rather, the games that they play together and bed time stories.” Jimmie notices a smile form on Wendy’s face in hearing his compliments.

“I will keep your vouch of character in mind when it comes to any decisions that I make moving forward. Actually, may I ask you a question?” Jimmie nods his head, though hoped it was nothing serious. “It’s obvious that this is a dangerous job as accidents can happen. What do you tell your daughters?”

“I’ve had some bad wrecks that have stunned me, and certainly it has caused them to worry. Each time, though, I just hold them close and assure them that no matter what, it is going to be okay. I recognize the danger with them, but I show them how safe the racecars are, and make sure they know no matter what that my wife and I are there for them.” Wendy smiles as it seemed easy enough, and it was clear that Lydia wasn’t phased in the time she was spending with Chase right now.

“Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. It’s just one of those things that comes up when we’re trying to look at candidates.” Jimmie silently said a prayer, hopeful that did not stand in the way of them getting accepted.

“I perfectly understand, but just remember – you can get hurt in any professions just as easy, as we see construction workers fall every day. Truthfully, you could get hurt as you leave here tonight, from a car accident to getting caught in the middle of a shootout. It’s just part of life, honestly.” He then walks away, hoping those sentiments sat with her as she contemplated any decisions moving forward.

Starting up front, Chase would challenge for the top spot for awhile, and had an interesting fun time going back and forth with Denny for a bit. Ultimately, though, it did not pan out as they would have hoped, with Ford grabbing the manufacture advantage and dominating, as Chase fell back to finish 13^th.

He would start 25^th for the Daytona 500 on Sunday as a result.

“The whole manufacture BS and riding around screwed you,” Sarina comments afterwards as she hands Chase a drink. “Truthfully, Denny is my hero because he at least made it interesting with continued attempted moves throughout the whole race.”

“He’s got a good car, too,” Chase replies back to which Sarina could not argue. “He’s going to be tough to beat on Sunday. But that just proved one thing – we’re going to need to work together and make it work to have a chance, because those Fords know what they’re doing.”

“I’m not giving up, though. I believe you and the boys can get the job done.” She then leans over, placing a kiss on his lips, as they continue the walk back to the motorcoach lot to meet up with his parents.

Friday, February 14 – Daytona International Speedway

Chase lies on the bed, eyes focused forward on the pair that laid there along with him.

“I could spend the whole day like this with you both,” he comments, tickling Abigail’s belly, which causes her to break out laughing. “Those giggles are so adorable.”

“I hope she never loses those as she gets older,” Sarina replies as she looks on admiring the pair together.

With it being Valentine’s Day, Chase started off things on a romantic note with breakfast in bed for them, with Abigail in her highchair. Once she was done eating, they brought her on the bed between them so they could relax together as a family.

“If it is up to me, I’d spoil you both today for Valentine’s Day,” he continues as he goes in for another tickle. “I’d spend all day in here, tickling you, admiring you, and telling your mommy how much I love her.”

“Thankfully, I finally get to spend time with my other baby today,” Sarina comments, to which a smile forms on both of their faces. Finally, it was time for the Xfinity Series to get their first practice on the track. “Have I told you lately how much I am excited to get my first practice of the year in the books?”

“Trust me, I know the feeling…” He then lets out a sigh as he glances at the time, hearing his phone go off with a text. “Why did Morgan schedule that for this morning?”

“Schedule what?” Chase gets up, going into the closet to grab his sweater, pulling it over his t-shirt.

“I have to give Nick and Spyher a tour of the infield today, and do the IRacing demo.” He then glances back down at the bed, in seeing his girls lying there together. “She should know that for Valentine’s Day, I want to shower you both with love and spend time together.”

“Look at it this way – you have your tour, we each have a couple practices, and then we can spend the whole night together enjoying the truck race together.” Chase couldn’t argue with that as the trucks always put on an exciting show at Daytona.

“It still doesn’t make up for the lost time this morning. I love you, both of you.” He then gives them each a kiss, before tickling Abigail one last time for good measure. “You be a good girl for momma.”

She then glances up at the scoreboard after practice, with a big smile written over her face at the sight before her.

“I don’t care if it is Daytona or not, that is such a pretty sight to see,” she comments, seeing her name on top of the leaderboard with the quickest lap of the session. “Speeds may not better, but damn, I could get used to seeing that.”

“Isn’t that the plan all season long?” Dave questions as he walks over joining his driver, to which she nods her head in return. “The car felt good when you were in the draft, right?”

“The handling was pretty dang close to where I would want – like I would say 9/10, just a tick loose when Justin (Allgaier) started bumping me. In honesty, that’s the best car that we’ve probably brought to a restrictor plate track. I could easily slip out, change lanes, do what I wanted – without a single issue. Like I felt like Dale Jr. out there when he was in dominating form.”

“Some people would say that you were seeing air then,” a new voice chimes in the garage area and she couldn’t help but smile as she recognized it immediately.

“Okay, then I take that comment back as I could not see the air,” she replies to Dale, who simply chuckles back in response.

“If you could actually see lines in the air, then I may be a little concerned and wonder how you’re doing.” She then lets out a sigh, hopeful that they weren’t returning down that path of everyone bugging her about her health. “I’m glad to see that you’re happy with the car, though, and for the record – I think we’re going to see that sight a lot more this year.”

“God I hope so.” She then leans back against the pit box, taking a long sip of the bottle of Gatorade that was sitting there.

“This may not be the right time and place to ask, but I actually came here to ask you something.” Sarina could only glance at her boss a little confused, but was ready to roll with it. “How is your book coming?”

“To be honest, it’s a lot damn harder than I thought it was going to be. Do you remember the advice that you told me last year? That’s certainly starting to hit a lot more than I realized lately. I got the first part – the mere details, speaking of how the pregnancy came about – without any issues. Then after debating between the miscarriage and Carter, I began to write about the drama with him and Alison. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten much done.” Dale was not surprised, remembering how hard that whole ordeal hit both Sarina and Chase as they were going through it.

“So where does that put this project moving forward? I remember concerns from both you and Chase about that being included, anyway.” She nods her head, as she was immediately brought back to the conversation that Chase and her had about the very topic. What if it was bigger warning than she had wanted to realize?

“I don’t want to give up. I still want to do the book as I still feel that I am doing it for the right reasons, and I stand by that no matter what. That want to help people, inspire people keeps pushing me to try and do this. However, I am actually considering what he said and perhaps not including that. Maybe it’d be better to focus solely on just the pregnancy aspect, and that journey.” Dale wasn’t against that, as he wanted her to do whatever she was most comfortable with and was just being the supportive voice through the process.

“And what about your back story? I know you wanted to share that to clear up any confusion, and finally set the record straight.” She nods her head, remembering how she explained that to Dale and Chase from the beginning. Given how far she had come, there was nothing from that time that could hurt her any longer.

“I actually still want to do that – but don’t know if that’ll tie in with just doing the pregnancy side of it. That’s where I am questioning what direction do I go and how do I proceed.” Dale places a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention.

“Do whatever you feel is comfortable with. Tell the story that you want. It is your book, your story to share, your idea. Don’t do something that you don’t believe in or avoid something else just because someone doesn’t think it’s a good idea. It is your book, so in the day, you’re the one that has been satisfied with the end product and ready to put it out there. The best way to do that is to do it your way.” She smiles as she certainly tries to take the advice to heart.

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks Dale.”

With the drop of the green flag for Cup Series practice, Chase began by doing a couple run-throughs of pit road, ensuring he knew where the box was, getting in accordingly, and playing with the timing lines without being deemed speeding.

“That was better into the box there, Dustin,” Chase comments after doing another run-through on pit road, which gave Dustin Shoulders the confidence that they were getting the right balance in the brake package with what you needed for pit road, and drafting.

Once satisfied, he would get into a couple small packs with his fellow Chevrolet drivers, trying different things – from running the bottom, to running the top, to making moves alongside and leading. It was all about learning what worked and didn’t so they could make the right moves on Sunday.

“Rain in about ten minutes,” Alan Gustafson says mid-way through as he had his eyes on the radar. They knew there was a threat of weather going into the session, hence trying to stick to a short game plan.

They were able to close out the session despite the crew chief’s initial concerns, pleased with everything they learned. For what it was worth, they showed decent speed on the chart with the third quickest lap.

With the progress that they made in the first session, Dave had Sarina focused on doing a couple single-car runs to see where they’d stack up qualifying wise tomorrow, before ready to cut the practice shorter than schedule.

They would get out to make their first run of the day, laying down a single lap, before the skies opened with the rain that was predicted beginning to fall.

As she pulled the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops / Black Riffle Coffee Chevrolet back to the garage, there were no complaints from her JR Motorsports team as they knew that they had a piece to work with come Saturday.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 328: A Necessary Discussion

Anybody watching FOX’s broadcast will recall Michael Waltrip’s approach in the garage area. There’s mixed thoughts in how he handled the situation – including mine which may not follow what the network wants. Anyways, it inspired this….

Sunday, February 9 – Daytona International Speedway

Sarina stands with her arms crossed by the No. 9 hauler, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe what this race seemed to have become, turning into a great battle into essentially a demolition derby. A single glance at the No. 9 Chevrolet as Chase brought it into the garage area just made her feel disgusted.

They were so close to winning.

She watches Chase come to a stop, taking off his helmet accordingly as the medical officials make their way over. She knew that he was okay as it wasn’t the most terrible hurt. She knew that it was just NASCAR’s precaution in taking the helmet, HANS, and requiring a trip to come and say hello. Hopefully it’d be Dr. Grayson as that typically went smoother and better than the others.

She only took her eyes off Chase once to notice Michael Waltrip standing before a camera, obviously filing a report for the broadcast. She just shook her head as he was pushed back from the situation by both NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports officials.

“Am I seriously watching this unfold before me?” She questions, earning a nod from the pair of crew members surrounding her. “Who thought it was a bright idea to leave Michael in charge of infield reports?”

“The same person that allowed him to do the grid walk pre-race probably,” Matt Brandt comments, as Sarina chuckles. She had to admit the mixed reviews about that in some of the antics pulled through the years, but it was worth a couple laughs at times.

“I mean, who in their right mind thinks that fans would like to see drivers climb out and go through the process, rather than interviews? I’d want to hear what drivers are thinking, comments in relation to the action and what happened. I thought that’s what infield reporters were supposed to do – provide driver perspective.” Matt couldn’t help but nod his head in agreement as they continued to watch the scene before them.

They watched as Michael made his way across the garage area, beginning to showcase the various wrecked cars that had found themselves in the garage area as a result of the action on-track. Who knew there’d be only six cars left with a few laps to go?

“Among the wrecked cars, I have found my good buddy – Sarina Elliott,” they hear Michael say as Sarina looks over surprised, practically forcing a smile. What was happening right now? Who made them close buddies? “What are your thoughts on the scene before you?”

“It sucks for the race teams,” she comments as she takes a deep breath, trying to keep this response as civil as possible. “I know it’s part of restrictor plate racing, and I know the fans like it, but it sucks to see these cars all wrecked.”

“It seemed Chase had a good shot at winning before the incident….” She nods her head, as she was really believing in their chances with the pair of back-to-back restarts and getting those strong runs quick. She could only wonder what if after the block from Kyle.

“He was doing a good job putting himself in the right position to possibly capitalize. Unfortunately, it did not work out with the contact with Kyle. That’s just how it goes, right?” She watches Michael nod his head, before doing the usual send off back to the booth as they were getting set to go back green.  She keeps a close eye on the camera, ensuring the red light that showed they were recording was indeed turned off before letting the smile fade off of her face.

“Thank you for doing the intervie-”

“How about next time you try a different approach to this infield reporting gig? I’m sorry, but I’m sure fans would prefer to hear from the drivers at the care center, than seeing a bunch of wrecked cars and watching a driver climb out that they know is okay. I’d think that they’d want to hear a perspective of how it happened, an explanation for what we’re seeing.”

She then turns on her heels and heads into the trailer, hoping that Chase came back soon as she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible now.

Monday, February 10 – Phoenix, Arizona

Chase takes a series of deep breathes as he enters the court room, taking his seat accordingly. He had arrived in Arizona early per Alycia’s recommendations as they went over everything as she requested. Now it was time to make it happen.

Eyes focused on the ground, a couple more deep breathes, he doesn’t even glance up as he hears Alison entering the room with the guards. For her, it was a joy as she got a change in the usual scenery she’d been dealt since trial. For him, it was all about fighting reminders of everything that had happened last year.

“Presenting the Honorable Judge Andrew Downey,” the officer states, as everybody stands in the court room. Chase kept his eyes focused forward on the judge as he entered the court room, not allowing himself to cast a glance towards the right side of the room.

“Everybody may be seated,” Judge Downey states, which is followed accordingly as Sarina reaches over, giving Chase’s hand a slight squeeze for support. “I understand that we are here today as Mr. Chase Elliott is requesting a no contact restraining order against the defendant, Alison Reynolds. I understand that Ms. Reynolds is currently locked into the state psychological hospital following a series of charges last year. Ms. Reynolds, have you been sending letters?”

“Yes, your honor,” she comments as her eyes stay locked on Chase. “I wanted to get in contact with him to offer an apology for my actions as I feel bad for everything that occurred between us. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to explain my actions.” Chase shakes his head as he knew there was nothing that she could say that would make up for everything that had happened.

“Thank you for your explanation, Ms. Reynolds. In conjunction with that, is Mr. Elliott curious to either the apology or explanation?” Chase didn’t even need to tell Alycia what was on his mind in regards to that. They had discussed prior that no matter what Alison was trying to send in those letters, he wanted nothing to do with them.

“My client has no interest in regards to hearing any apologies or explanations, but is rather focused on getting on the rest of his life unharmed and undisturbed,” Alycia begins to explain as Chase smiles. He liked the direction that this was going already. “Through a span of a year and a half, Ms. Reynolds tormented my client, from sexual assaults to harassment to a various degree of crimes, including attempted murder. You just need to read through her rap sheet to understand what all occurred between them. Now that justice has been rightfully served with Ms. Reynolds getting what she rightfully deserved, it is time that my client gets the peace of mind that he wants for not only himself, but his family.”

“Typically when someone is put behind bars, whether a jail cell or mental facility, it is to keep society safe and give them peace of mind,” the judge begins, which seemed to be in favor of the direction that Chase wanted in his perspective. “That’s typically what we say when justice is served, right? Ms. Burrows is right about Ms. Reynolds’ history as her crimes sit before me in full detail. In return, Mr. Elliott has every right to decide whether he’s interested in an apology, explanation, or nothing for that matter. Given his wishes, it should easily be followed that a no contact restraining order should be allowed.”

“With all due respect, your honor, I would like to also make it clear to Ms. Reynolds that includes any family to Mr. Elliott, ranging from his wife to his child and parents, among others. I would also request that she is not allowed to send any mail to his place of employment.” From his discussion with Alycia, she mentioned making that clear to therefore prevent Alison from finding a way around the restraining order to deliver something. It’d also offer the peace of mind to the team, as well, as they deserved no contact with her after what they endured.

“A no contact order always includes family, but certainly we can include his place of employment in the writing. Ms. Reynolds, that means that you will not be allowed to send another letter out of the facility to Mr. Elliott, his relatives, or place of employment in the future. Do you understand these terms?” It seemed easy enough, right?

“Your honor, since I am not allowed any contact from this point forward, I would like to explain what I was trying to tell him today so that way he understands. Can you give me that chance, please?” The fact the judge was shaking his head no the entire time that she spoke gave Chase peace of mind. It seemed that he understood right where he was coming from.

“Mr. Elliott has made his thoughts clear, and they will be respected. Do you agree to the terms – yes or no?” Alison glances over, before letting out a sigh as she nods her head. “Thank you, ma’am. I wish both parties the best of luck in the future. Court adjourned!”

As the judge whacked the hammer down to signal the end of the court session, Alison stood up in a quick matter, darting towards where Chase and Sarina were sitting immediately. She was unable to reach him, though, as the guard quickly secured her, pinning her as he placed her back in the handcuffs.

“You have to listen to me!” She lets out as she is hauled out of the court room. “It wasn’t my fault! It wasn’t Chris’ fault! There’s a reason for everything!!”

Chase keeps his eyes focused down, deep breathes, blocking our her pleas, as Sarina rubs his back. They hear the doors close, signifying that she was escorted out of the room accordingly.

“Are you okay?” She questions, to which he glances up and nods his head in return. “It’s over. You got what you wanted and you don’t ever have to see her again.” That mere fact gave him peace of mind, only helped along by belief in himself by the strength shown in being here to face her without an issue today.

“Thank you Alycia,” he tells her simply, to which she nods her head back in return with a smile.

“Everything is coming together for you and Sarina, slowly,” she starts as she glances between the pair. “The meeting is going to go great for the adoption and then that process will be started.”

With everything in the books, the pair made their way out of the court room. Though it wasn’t lost on everybody by what Alison said. What if there was more to the story?

Wednesday, February 12 – Daytona International Speedway

Chase makes his way through the various media day stops, answering the questions that were asked, along with doing the videos that FOX required as part of their pre-race show for Sunday. It was just another usual day in Daytona for media day, right?

“How do you spend your time down here?” Chase is asked, and he had to chuckle a little. It seemed drivers had interesting stories, from Disney World to golfing and time on the beach. He could tell the story of visiting an Arizona court room on Monday, but he knew that’d just get everything going a little crazy.  He wasn’t about to bring up Alison’s name in their mouth for any reason.

“Well, I mean, yesterday and Monday were kind of our two days we didn’t have much going on,” he comments, hoping to scuff that off the table immediately. “I didn’t do much then. We start getting busy today, stay busy the rest of the week till Sunday. You at least have one or two things to do every day. Good to have it spread out. the Duel being there spices up the week a little bit.” He knew he’d offered enough to satisfy their taste buds of curiousity, and it fit the truth with how his schedule appeared thus far. Though perhaps he should give them one more detail so they’d change direction in questions. “I’ve enjoyed watching the short track racing. I’ll probably go over there and watch some more before it’s over.”

He then continues to answer some more questions, before being let go from that station to head off to the next stop in the rotation schedule that he was supposed to follow.

“That answer was totally a lie,” he hears and rolls his eyes in seeing Jimmie head over his direction. Though as soon as he rolled his eyes, he was actually glad to run into his teammate.

“Do you really expect me to tell them about Monday?” He questions, to which Jimmie simply smiled in return. It was obvious his teammate understood why he did what he did.

“I’m just glad that it worked out and you got what you wanted relatively easily.” Chase nods his head, even if the last comment from her was still in his mind. He had tried to brush it off like nothing, but it remained there for some reason.

“Those photos from the Disney World were perfect. She is absolutely adorable with the different characters. Thank you for including her, and watching her.” The comment just caused the teammate’s smile to widen that much more.

“It was not a problem at all. Actually, the girls loved having her there as it seems Lydia is in much love with her as she is with you. She was already asking about when she can see you and Abigail again.” Chase chuckles, as he certainly adored Lydia and the connection they’d grown.

“I was actually wondering if you and Chandra could watch Abigail once again for a couple hours this evening.” The comment brought a curious glance on Jimmie’s face, as he wondered what Chase in store, with the possibilities of a surprise for Sarina in his mind. “The adoption representative is actually making her way down here to meet with me and Sarina. She wants to have the meeting in our environment to get a feel for everything. I simply accepted, and offered her passes for the whole weekend. I want her to see and understand why this is going to work.”

“I think that’s a great idea, as you don’t understand the NASCAR family until you’re right in the midst of it and seeing everybody together. In regards to Abigail, I have no issues with that as it’ll make Lydia that much more happier.”

Chase closes the door after Alycia and the representative enter together, before making his way up inside and sitting on the couch alongside Sarina. It didn’t take long for the pair to join them, sitting on the couch across.

They had met at the gates, with Chase and Morgan (Overstreet) ensuring that the credentials for the weekend were set to go accordingly. she then gave them a ride on the golf cart back to the motorcoach lot, before leaving to allow the conversation to happen.

“So this is the home away from home?” Wendy Arnold, the representative, asks as she glances around the motorcoach?” Both Sarina and Chase nod their heads accordingly, as Sarina tries to dump her nerves to the side. “These are pretty nice, actually.”

“Thank you,” Chase replies as he trades a glance with Alycia, curious as to the direction that they were going to head next. “I can give you a tour after if you would like.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary today, but when we do our home inspection, I will certainly want to include the motorcoach if this is where you will be spending a lot of time.” Chase nods his head, accepting, not feeling any nerves in that regard. “I’m surprised your daughter is not here with you, actually.”

“I asked my teammate Jimmie Johnson to watch her for a couple hours so we could have this conversation without any interruptions or worries.” He just hoped that didn’t somehow deduct points due to her not being there.

“I respect that decision as it’s nice to have the adult told to go over some things.” This is where Sarina’s nerves began to pick up as she watched the file open on Wendy’s lap, seeing their package inside. There had to be some reason that they were having this discussion, right? “I read up on your history and it seems that there have been issues. However, it is clear that those are cleared up accordingly and won’t be a problem which is great to hear for everybody’s safety. We are taking some of these children from dangerous and harmful situations, and do not want to cause more harm again.”

“When it comes to anything, I can assure you that Chase and I put our daughter’s safety above anything, and will do the same with any additional children,” Sarina explains, to which Chase nods his head in agreement. “I understand perfectly what you’re saying about childhood issues and how they affect a person. I went through my fair share through my teenage years and it took me awhile to get over that and through it. I would not want to do the same to another child.”

“I think your experience is actually a benefit as you understand what it’s like on both sides of that perspective,” Wendy replies, to which Alycia offers a smile as she knew that they were doing a good job thus far. “It also shows in that you were doing whatever it took to protect each other through everything, even if it caused a couple criminal issues.” Chase’s bites his tongue as he caught the reference immediately. “Though a clean record beyond what happened with Carter assures me that you’re both not someone to worry about in that regard, thankfully. The main reason that I wanted to have this discussion, though, was regards to your schedule and lifestyle. It’s no simple feat that you both have demanding schedules, and a lot of traveling. Sometimes that can present issues, from scheduling meetings to maintaining a stable, fit home for the child. That’s why it was great to see you both accept my appearance here with you this weekend to observe and see how things go forth with your family. Though given what I am seeing, I do not see that being an issue, based on your history, your reputations, and the references that you gave me.”

“Thank you,” they both say in response, as Sarina takes a deep breath, feeling as though a load of bricks had been lifted off of her shoulders.

“If there is any possible concerns, it would be that there is some danger in what you both do in racing. Accidents do happen, unfortunately, and sometimes they can bring serious consequences. It’s one thing for your own lives to be affected, but it’s another when that affects someone else, a young child who may not fully understand. I want your thoughts on how you’d combat this.” Sarina glances towards Chase, knowing that he’d be better equipped to answer the question given his family history in racing.

“I fully respect your sentiments as you’re right, it’s part of the job,” he starts, still debating how to go about this. “It may seem dangerous – and it can be at times as injuries do happen, but I can assure you that the cars are built safe to protect us. I can give you a tour of my racecar or Sarina’s this weekend for you to understand the safety innova-”

“But what if something happens, Mr. Elliott?” It was clear that she wanted a different direct answer than the assurance route that he was going.

“If something was to happen to myself or Sarina, we do have a plan in place. My parents are here on the weekend and would immediately go into taking care of Abigail and any future children while the situation is handled. We also have teammates and our own team members who would offer to watch the children if necessary; Alan Gustafson has done that for me on a couple occasions.” He then takes a deep breath, knowing that it probably didn’t need to be said, but it was necessary based on Wendy’s attitude. “If the worse was to happen to one of us, the other would certainly step into place without hesitation, with a very deep support circle to help them through everything, ranging from my parents, to my teammates, to fellow drivers, and our team members. If something was to happen to us both, then certainly custody would go to my parents.”

“Is there a plan in official writing should any of this occur?” Alycia opens her own file before her, sorting through the papers as she pulls out a couple to show Wendy.

“The custody factors are written in there, signed and official,” Alycia explains as she sorts through the stack. Chase remembered the conversation with Alycia as she brought it up, stating it may be a good precaution given everything that could possibly happen. It was better to be safe than sorry, right? “Hendrick Motorsports also has a copy of a certain list of things that they follow should something happen to their drivers, from who to notify to other things set in place, which is seen on the second page as agreed by all parties – Chase, Sarina, the team, and the sponsors. The support circle that Chase spoke of is not included officially in writing, but that comes from friendship and can be seen through past exam-”

“I read about those in the references provided,” Wendy cuts her off, as Alycia had strategically chosen who should write a letter to send in. With including a note from Samantha, it showed the commitment that she wanted displayed with Samantha bringing up how that was beneficial through everything. Samantha also touched upon Chase and Sarina’s ups-and-downs experienced with pregnancy, showcasing their want to make this happen. “Everything seems to be in order that we’d like to see from a family who is involved in a high risk profession. So the only thing remains is showing me that family unit and why this works despite your schedule and traveling this weekend – which I don’t see being an issue, and I can sign off on everything.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 323: Getting Down to Business

Wednesday, January 29 – NASCAR Hall of Fame

The chuckles died down, as the little red light on the camera went out signifying the completion of another segment in the schedule complete for the day. A deep breath, and there was hope that things would continue to go smoothly so he could head home to his girls.

“Thank you once again,” Rutledge says as Chase stands up, tossing the pillow back on the chair.

“Anytime man,” he replies as he quickly checks his phone for a message.

“You looked like you were getting comfy there. I know the day can be draining, and I imagine you’ve been busy raising Abigail.” Chase smiles as it was always nice talking about his daughter, no matter whom that conversation was with.

“Trust me when I say there’s no issues. She’s an absolute angel, and can sleep through the night. I’m just trying to get through today so I can head home for cuddles.” He then glances over at Morgan, ready for instructions as to where to head next, as they begin to leave the room.

“Chase, I was wondering if I could ask you something…” They hear, causing both him and Morgan to pause. It was unusual for someone on the production staff for any of these shoots to ask you something after saying that you had completed everything. “As you discussed, everything is going great for both you and Sarina. It may be the perfect time to do an interview discussing what happened.”

“I can assure you that will never happen,” Chase states as a glance is sent Morgan’s way immediately. Why couldn’t they just drop it?

“It’d be great for you to both take charge, explain your story, inspire others, and clear up any misconceptions. Given that you’re healing from the pain, it should be easier now than before.” Chase takes a deep breath, as he almost wanted to laugh right back in the guy’s face.

“If you look at what I went through, and watched Sarina go through, among others, I am sure that you can understand the pain never leaves you..” He went to say something else, but bit his tongue, not wanting to open that door with this person. “We’ve said before that we aren’t doing any interviews, and my stance hasn’t changed.”

He then heads out of the room with Morgan following quickly in toe as he takes a couple deep breathes once again.

“Are you okay?” She questions, having caught his response, to which he nods his head. “I’ve told them before that we are never opening the door, and are ready to move as far away as possible from what happened. it just seems that they keep wanting to rehash it, wanting that exclusive.” Chase nods his head, not surprised as that’s what the media succeeded on. He appreciated their efforts and understood, but also knew that his stance wasn’t changing.

“It’s okay, I appreciate your efforts,” he replies, trying to relive the pressure off of her back. “The story is going to come out, in our own way, though. We’re not going to tell everything – but the miscarriage, and some of the pain associated. Sarina is in the process of writing a book.” He immediately saw the surprised glance on Morgan’s face in response.

“Does she realize that she does not need to tell everyone everything?” Chase nods his head, remembering the conversation that he had with her.

“She wants to do this to inspire other woman out there, who may experiencing similar things, from infertility to being a victim of sexual assault.” He takes a deep breath, as it was still hard at times to admit those words out loud. “I am inspired by her strength and want to do that for people, and I told her that I fully support her – except for certain things that I do not want told and she accepted that.”

“I look forward to reading the book when it is published as I’m sure she’ll do a great job.”

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – JANUARY 29: Chase Elliott poses for a photo during NASCAR Production Days at Charlotte Convention Center on January 29, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Wednesday, January 29 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase walks through the house, walking up behind her in the living room after having grabbed himself a bite to eat once getting home. He wraps his arms around her, peering over her shoulders at the screen before her.

“Are you seriously staring at this photo?” He questions, to which she just chuckles in response.

“What can I say? You have a great ass and they captured it perfectly,” she answers, to which he just rolls his eyes in response. “But of course I get to do one thing that nobody else can do – smack it and touch it.”

“We’ll just have to see if I allow that.” She looks over a little surprised, moving her Ipad aside as a piece of paper lies on the table.

“Actually, this piece of paper says that I am allowed…” He glances at her a little confused, as she hands him the paper. He knew about the check-in that she had with Dr. Grayson while he was busy, and it was clear that this was the results. She had been officially cleared for racing at Daytona, and was cleared to have sex when she wanted. “She says that everything is healed accordingly so I’m ready for everything.”

“No issues at all, even with the surgery complications?” She nods her head, having her own worries when she first began discussing this with Dr. Grayson.

“She says that I may be sore for the first couple times that we have intercourse, and I may need to change cream, or position, to help that. I figured that was a great idea as that means that we can explore together.” Chase lets out a sigh as he was trying to stay serious, but the smirk on her face was certainly not helping matters.

“I’m glad that you’re okay….” He then wraps his arms around her a little tighter, placing a kiss on her cheek. “As for your proposition, you know I’m game – as long it involves you.”

“Let’s face it, we can’t get enough of each other.” She then glances up at him, easily accepting the kiss upon her lips from him.

Thursday, January 30 – Hendrick Motorsports

As customary with Hendrick Motorsports, they hosted their annual media day, which allowed members of the media to stop by the shop headquarters and speak to each of the drivers and crew chiefs.

Both Sarina and Chase were on campus – up to separate activities, which easily meant that Abigail was back at the shop for another day. There were no complaints from anybody as they always enjoyed spending time with her, savoring every single moment that they could.

Thus far, it seemed that everybody was taking a turn watching her, with Chase having to always double check who was the latest person to be sucking up to her.

At one point, he was in the midst of trying to answer questions – when she caught his attention as she was using the edge of the platform his car sat on to hold on, while walking around with Alex and Jimmie.

“Is she giving you any trouble?” Chase wonders in-between a pair of interviews, to which both of them shake their heads no.

“I think you may have a racer on your hands though,” Jimmie starts as he watches Alex interact with her. “Every time I tried to pull her away from the platform and your racecar, she complained. She’s totally obsessed with your car.”

“Should it honestly surprise you?” Alex questions as he scoops her up in his arms. “I bet she figures out racing the quickest of all the kids in the garage. I mean, it’s definitely in her genes.” Chase lets out a sigh as he had heard similar comments from several people to date. For him, he was mixed on his reaction. He knew he’d probably be slightly nervous in watching her take that route, but knew that he’d support her no matter what the dreams entailed.

“You should bring her out to the go-kart track with Lydia and Genieve when she gets older. Actually, I can admit that those girls have surprised me with how quickly they’re picking it up, although Lydia told me that she is going to be faster than you.” Chase looks on a little surprised, but admittedly smiles as it was a nice friendship he had with Jimmie’s youngest daughter.

“Oh really?” He questions, to which Jimmie nods his head. “I just may have to come out and race her to see…” Jimmie couldn’t help but smile in return as he knew that Lydia would enjoy that.

“Actually, she looks perfect in the car….” Alex catches their attention, as they both look up on the platform, seeing that Alex had put Abigail down in his seat. “Just wait until you can reach the pedals, princess.”

While the boys were having fun with Abigail, there was another focus on hand for Sarina. With clearance for Daytona and wanting to be back in a racecar, she had taken the liberty of partaking in pit stop practice. The crews always liked it at Hendrick Motorsports in having an actual driver to simulate coming in and out of their makeshift box properly, and you could never complain about a day behind the wheel of a racecar.

Sarina also knew it was good practice for herself in getting back used to the steps for a perfect pit stop from entry and speed, to stopping in the box where the crew wanted, to peeling away without any issues. She knew this was her year to shine after everything learned from last year, and wasn’t about to take any chances.

Though as much as she wanted to focus on everything ahead of her, there was no doubt that everything else just laid right there behind in the shadows.

“Hey,” she hears and smiles in watching Dale walk over to her. She had wanted to have a conversation with him about things, and had expressed that over text messages. Since, they had been trying to coordinate in their schedules a time that would work.

“You probably haven’t walked these grounds for awhile,” she comments, trying to erase some of the tension she felt herself creating in the air.

“I miss it sometimes, though, as there were a lot of great moments.” Sarina nods her head in agreement as she climbs out of the car. “I know I originally told you that I wasn’t going to be available today, but my schedule cleared up. I asked Dave if he knew where you’d be, and he told me that you were here doing pit stop practice.”

“Well, you know I just got my clearance to get back behind the wheel so let’s face it – I’ve been out of a racecar too long for my own liking. This is better than nothing, right?” Dale chuckles as they walk away from the others together. “To be honest, though, I figured it’d be good to get some practice in. Pit stops are one of those things where I wasn’t as strong as I needed to be last year, so it’s nice to refresh the memory and maybe get a little better.”

“I don’t have any doubt that you’ll figure it out as that’s one of the more easier things…” She then lets out a sigh, knowing that was the truth. Between flutters of the past, to over thinking Daytona, it seemed everything else was on her mind. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“What’s the secret to being successful at Daytona? I know I’ve had decent runs down there, but I haven’t been able to create moves, set-up people, and do what I need to be a race winning contender. I figured why not try and snag some secrets from my boss.” Dale had to admit that her approach was spot on as he appreciated the flattery, along with her want to improve.

“You’re right that you’re decent down there, but the key to winning is knowing how to control the lanes, the momentum, and make moves where they seem impossible.” She nods her head, as that was exactly why she had commenced this conversation that afternoon.

Another Hendrick Motorsports tradition would follow the media day festivities, with all of the drivers, crew chiefs, and employees gathering in the great hall for their pre-season pep talk.

His time on stage was shortly spent, expressing his gratitude to everybody for their hard work through the winter to continue improving. He also shared the goals in wanting to more races and doing better than they did last year – more than three wins this time around, and make it past the Round of 8 in the playoffs.

“Some may wonder if we need to hang a lucky rabbit’s foot in the car after the playoffs you experienced,” Marshall Carlson shared shortly thereafter, which brought a sigh from Chase. it would just be probably better to forget those string of weeks.

As he sat among the crowd listening to the various speeches, he heard his phone buzz. He glanced at it, making sure it wasn’t Sarina as he knew that she was up in his office with Abigail napping – though was caught off-guard when the message was from Alycia.

While he knew it was rude to not be paying attention and on his phone, he knew he couldn’t wait on this message as he wanted to hear the update that she had to offer. He quickly hits the open button, trying to hide the phone beneath the table to not get looked upon by others.

“They didn’t say yes, but they didn’t say no,” he reads to himself, slightly confused. “They want to set up a meeting with both you and Sarina to discuss your intentions and other aspects before deciding whether to proceed down this route. It doesn’t surprise me given your stardom and other red flags as discussed. I wouldn’t worry about it, because we have discussed how they’ll all be easily handled.”

“You have our schedules,” Chase begins to type back with a sigh. Why couldn’t everything just come together as easily as they wanted? “Set-up a time that works for both them and us, and just let me know when it’s set. I’ll be there no matter what.”

“Okay. I just wanted to keep you in the loop before I proceeded.” He then takes a deep breath, placing his phone back in his pocket, as his mind began to wander immediately.

What if the meeting didn’t go accordingly? What if this was the red flag that they shouldn’t be doing this? Everything in their life was just starting to make sense – why were they pushing the envelope again?

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 322: Teammate Bonding Part 2

Tuesday, January 28 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

“Alright, whose ready for Round 2?” Jeff says with anticipation as he glances over at the group of drivers and crew chiefs.

Taking a deep breath, Chase knew that he had to redeem himself for the sloppy start that he offered in the first round.

He then watches as his teammates tackle the course, following the reverse format that Jeff had instructed for them, shaking his head at some of the driving that he was witnessing. It seemed that Alex had a love affair for cones, but it’d be Jimmie as his biggest competition today.

The crew chief portion was just as entertaining, as laughs certainly were to be had at their abilities behind the wheel. Everybody was picking on Chad’s ability behind the wheel, but it was Alan laying down the most embarrassing run of the afternoon – backing the Camaro in the wall following his run.

“Only six men over the wall!” Greg Ives comments as everybody walks towards to survey the damage. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad, with just a minor crack in the bumper.

“You have to sign that so Rick knows who did it,” Alex Bowman offers, as he hands the crew chief a marker.

“And you thought you were going to beat me?” Chase questions as Alan just rolls his eyes.

“Let’s see what you got, superstar,” Alan replies, trying to keep a poker face the entire time.

Knowing that he had to lay down a good time if he wanted a hope at winning the driver’s round, Chase pushed it to the limit – almost costing himself as he felt the car start to slide sideways. However, he managed to keep it within the cones and straight, finding his way to the finish line. A glance over the times laid down, he had certainly done his part.

Tuesday, January 28 – NASCAR Hall of Fame

“Hands on your hips,” the photographer states, to which Sarina follows the request as she was supposed to.

It was great to have a fun winter spending time with Chase and Abigail. It was great to be feeling better and not sore after the surgery last month. Though more importantly, it was nice to know that she’d be behind the wheel in a matter of weeks at Daytona, ready to start her second season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition.

Normally not one to care about doing the production days, it was nice to be back in familiar territory with a helmet and firesuit adorning her body. Thankfully, the sizing was all to correct as it seemed to fit everywhere in the right places.

“These are looking good,” the photographer comments as they continue to go through the mix of poses that they had on the docket for her to follow.

Everything would go smoothly, with her blasting through the requested poses and the photographers happy with everything they had. She was given the nod of approval, and allowed to leave for the day.

“I was surprised that you and Chase did not take a vacation this off-season,” her PR rep KC comments as they walk out of the NASCAR Hall of Fame together.

“I was focused on spending time with him and Abigail as let’s face it – the summer is busy so we need to take every opportunity that we can,” Sarina replies, which had been the reason that she had been telling everybody. She wasn’t about to spell out the surgery if not necessary.

“To be honest, I don’t blame you. I just half-expected to hear about you running a midget somewhere after all that the smiles over the test and Christopher bugging you.” Sarina chuckles, as that certainly was part of the off-season discussions. It also hadn’t disappeared, as she remembered the offer still on the table from Chad Boat.

“Don’t worry – that’s still happening at some point. I just have to work out schedule-wise what works for me, Chase, and the Tucker-Boat Motorsports squad. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give you a heads-up before I go down that route.” KC nodded her head in approval, appreciating the ease of working with Sarina.

“All I have to say is keep doing what you’re doing. It’s nice to see you happy, and having everything in order right now.” Sarina glances over with a smile, as it was certainly a great feeling. However, she couldn’t help but wonder when the next domino was going to fall.

“Trust me, I don’t want to give up this feeling for anything.”

Tuesday, January 28 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

After a successful second round, it was just about repeating the success once again in the final challenge and he would be victorious on the day. Taking a deep breath, he wasn’t too worried – already knowing the skills were there to make it happen.

The same couldn’t be said for his teammates, as Alex’s attempt at the course saw him spin the car around while doing the reverse slalom.

“Damn it!” He lets out, visibly frustrated considering it was his second mistake of the day.

“Do we need to send you back to driving school?” Jimmie teases, earning a flip of the bird from his teammate.

“Let’s be thankful that there’s no reverse challenges in NASCAR or we’d be screwed,” Greg adds, to which Alex just rolls his eyes.

Surprisingly, everybody was caught off-guard by Chad Knaus’ ability to reverse, as he got very close to the pylon – perhaps barely touching it, without knocking the egg off and cracking it. His driver, William, was able to put together a memorable performance of his own.

With having witnessed the others, Chase knew that there was no room for error and he had to make sure the perfect performance was laid down on the table. He succeeded in his task, backing the Camaro right up to the pylon – mere inches away from it, without knocking off the egg. His distance to the pylon, combined with the time laid down, gave him the most points for that round.

“Maybe you should teach Alex how to drive in reverse,” Jimmie comments, causing another eye-roll from Alex as Chase just chuckles.

“He just wanted to show off with a couple donuts,” Chase replies as they await for the scores to be tallied together.

Chase glances over the trophy, admitting that it was quite unique in being a gear shift knob with the Hendrick ‘H’ embedded into it.

he then walks over to where Alan stood leaning against one of the cars, just flashing a familiar smirk.

“I think you owe me something,” he comments as Alan lets out a sigh. He knew that a bet was a bet, no matter what.

“I’m glad that you beat me, though, as it proves we’re doing things right,” Alan starts as he reaches into his pocket. “If I would’ve beaten you, I would’ve had a right to question your ability as a driver…” Chase just rolls his eyes, knowing Alan wasn’t ready to admit this defeat too easily.

“Now when I say that I can get the job done, you can believe me.” Alan looks over with a smile as he hands him a $50 bill. “Seriously?”

“The bet was that I would buy you and Sarina dinner. Now you can go wherever you wan tonight.” Chase smiles as he wasn’t going to deny the offer from the crew chief, though wondered what she had in mind as Sarina was just as busy today as he was. “Oh, and make sure that Abigail gets something too.”

“Trust me – she almost reminds me of Fletcher when we go out sometimes. She’s always wanting to reach over and try stuff off of our plates.” Alan chuckles, though honestly wasn’t surprised.

“Curiosity is a good thing. The more food that you can get her to try is always better, as you know kids can be fussy at some points in what they want.” Chase lets out a sigh, not looking forward to those days down the road. “Is she still in love with watching herself in the mirror?”

“When she’s in my bedsroom, she goes straight for the wall-size mirror that Sarina has on the back of the door. She then just sits there, clapping and singing as she watches herself in pure amazement.” Alan smiles, remembering those adorable days with his kids.

“Perhaps she’s going to be an entertainer when she gets older, although racecar driver seems more likely.” Chase couldn’t deny that, given how well she behaved at the race track and the fact she’d be growing up right around it.

“No matter what she decides she wants to do is fine by me as she’ll have my support.”

Tuesday, January 28 – Dawsonville, GA

Chase walks into the front room, placing the bag before them on the table. He then reaches inside, pulling out a pair of boxes.

“One order of Honey Garlic wings for the lady,” he comments, setting the box before her with some napkins. “And a box of Carribean jerk for myself.” Sarina  glances over, shaking her head as he opens the box.

“Please try to not make the bedsroom too stinky tonight,” she teases as he just rolls his eyes in response. “So am I supposed to let you drive everywhere now that you’ve proven your skills?”

“I still can’t believe how close I got to the pylon. I thought at first I was screwed.” She just chuckles, having reviewed some of the images from his day of fun with his teammates. “I like how Alan gets to treat us to dinner tonight, and we go with the sponsor’s product.”

“They can’t say that you don’t like your sponsors and you’re false endorsing.” Chase nods his head in agreement, as he takes a bite of his wing.

“With how late we got back, I didn’t want to make anything, and I really didn’t want to go out to eat. You can never go wrong with wings.” Sarina couldn’t argue as she wiped a bit of the honey garlic sauce off the corner of her mouth.

“It’s all about getting back into the swing of things…” Chase knew for certain that was the case, as the rest of the week endured a busy schedule for both of them, resulting in plenty of flights to North Carolina. “Have you heard anything from Alycia yet?”

“I have not actually. I was going to text her and see if maybe she had an update or something, but recall that she did say it was going to take awhile.” Sarina nods her head, remembering that meeting in her office.

“I didn’t think of it until Samantha asked me today.” She then takes a deep breath, trying to divulge through everything the ladies discussed. “Kyle and her haven’t quite decided the exact direction that they want to go, who they want to use for the surrogacy – really anything yet. She said that they’re still trying to digest the news, and figure out how they want to move forward. But, it was nice to hear her thoughts about surrogacy and share my thoughts, and really get someone else’s opinion on the situation.”

“Have your thoughts changed from what we discussed?” Sarina takes a deep breath, as that was a big debate in her mind right now.

“I remember I told you that it’d be hard for me to do it, because it’s so hard for me to trust other people. How do I trust that this person will make the right decisions for our baby? However, Samantha helped put it into perspective. You have someone that is willing to for nine months, give up a lot of their own activities and things for someone else to reach their dream. So here is a very selfish person who wants to do what they can to help somebody. Would a selfish person be someone that would purposely compromise the situation?” Chase thinks it over, as certainly Samantha had a point.

“The only reason I could see you being wrong with that is if you found someone who was just doing it for profit or to make a name for themselves, because we know there’s big money involved in this with the little research that we’ve done.” Sarina nods her head, as she was surprised as the price some woman wanted to be paid to carry another person’s baby. “So it goes back to what you were saying in finding that right trusting person, and being able to know that they’re doing it for the right reasons. That’s why it’s not a decision you can just jump into and do. I’m glad that Samantha and Kyle are being patient.”

“I just hope that it works out for them as Chase, they deserve to be happy…” Chase glances over, nodding his head in agreement after witnessing a lot of their emotional up and downs firsthand.

“Samantha is smart, and she’s determined. If she wants something, she will do whatever it takes to make it happen. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be getting her daughter one day.”

Wednesday, January 29 – NASCAR Hall  of Fame

Chase walks in through the doors, smiling as he waves at a couple different people standing around.

The new season was officially beginning, as the first step was ready to begin.

“Are you ready for the fun they have for us today?” He hears from behind and glances back with a slight chuckle. It was always nice to see fellow drivers and catch-up, and Christopher Bell was no different.

“The real question is whether you’re ready,” Chase replies as he lets Christopher catch up with him. “I’ve been here before.”

“Photos, do some different emoji faces, answer some questions, take some video – all in a day’s work, right?” Chase chuckles as that was a simple way to sum things up. “By the way, how is Sarina doing?”

“Other than a little bit of soreness – like bits of tenderness, she’s pretty much back to herself. The doctor gave her clearance for Daytona so she’s in a good mood.” Christopher nods his head in approval, as he always believed she’d get that but knew the tinge of nerves that she had.

“Glad she’s feeling better. Hopefully she can score her first win….”

“Wait, did I hear you right? Are you going against your own teammates?” Christopher just offers a wink before walking away.