Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 31: Coca Cola 600

May 28, 2017 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

Sarina sat on the pit box, focused on the action on track. Everything that happened pre-race was out of mind without a single worry left to think of. For now, she was focused on Chase and them having a good night of racing.

Her eyes flip to the monitor, watching smoke begin to trail from Jeffrey Earnhardt's No. 33 entry, knowing that it was a possible blown motor and a caution was to come. Her eyes then focused on track as the No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet came into view on the frontstretch.

She watched as it slowed dramatically, what appearing to be fire in view by the front wheel well, before being slammed into the back off and lifted off the ground by Brad Keselowski.

"What the hell?!?" She yells out loud in shock of what happened, her hands immediately landing on her mouth. There were no words to describe what happened before her.

"Chase, are you alright?" Alan immediately cues the radio after what happened, trying to not let the panic over take him in that moment. His driver was fine. He just needed to remind himself of that until he got an answer. "Looks like a lot of fire there...." He then sits back on the pit box, eyes focused down the frontstretch where both Chase and Brad had ended up.

"He's out guys," Eddie D'Hondt tells them over the radio, knowing the panic that was probably surfacing through the team right now. "He's out and walking around. He's okay..."

"10-4." Alan then takes off his headset, putting his notes together as he lets out a sigh. So much for a fun night of racing.

"What the heck happened?" Sarina questions once again as she looks over at the crew chief. He could only shrug his shoulders, though his eyes then laid on the screen. He saw the debris come out from Jeffrey's car, followed by going through the nose of Chase's car. It was obvious the fire was due to the oil cooler being knocked off. "Why the hell didn't NASCAR call the caution sooner? Are they freaking insane? They caused that crap by not calling the caution! Jeffrey was smoking for a whole half a corner before they thought of anything. Are they insa-"

"There's nothing that we can do now so take a deep breath, relax, be glad that he's alright and go see him at the medical center." She then takes a couple deep breathes, knowing Alan was right no matter how mad she truly was. She makes her way down the steps, beginning the long walk back.

After climbing from the car, Chase made his way to the ambulance, climbing inside followed by Brad.

"Are you okay?" Brad asks and Chase shakes his head yes. "I didn't mean to hit you. It's just I didn't realize how slow you were going till the last minute...." Chase could understand that, given how quickly everything happened.

"I hit a piece of debris off Jeffrey's car and it punched a hole in the nose, hit the oil cooler, caught fire," Chase explains, as Brad shakes his head understanding. Everything made sense now. "You're okay, right?" Brad shakes his head yes.

Chase sat quiet the rest of the ride, fingers fumbling around the clips on the HANS device. It seemed the wreck was the perfect way to end May. Nothing had gone right through the month. From doubts and fights with Sarina, to multiple wrecks including a flying at Talladega, no luck seemed to be in his corner. Combine that with the Jared incident and he knew he wouldn't miss May one bit.

Reaching the care center, he climbs out, eying Sarina immediately standing there as he walks over, wraps an arm around her and kisses her forehead.

"I'm okay," he tells her as he looks into her eyes. She looks back into his, shaking her head immediately. Despite the nature of what happened, she was much calmer than she had been all month so far. Was it bad that she was getting used to this?