Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 94: Axaltra Pocono 400

June 2017

Chase walks into the garage area, hearing commotion down in one of the other stalls as he glanced over confused, before looking at his guys. This wasn't like a usual race morning.

"What's going on there?" He questions, catching his guy's attention. Normally, everything was in sync with no questions so it was obviously a startling deal.

"Another poisoning incident," Jared Erspamer states with a shiver of his own as he thought back to his own bout. "One of the Joe Gibbs guys." Chase looks on shocked as he shakes his head. It seemed insane to now realize that's three incidents in an environment where you'd never hear of that happening before.

"Crazy.... Is he going to be okay?" Alan shrugs his shoulders, not sure yet as they hadn't heard many details. It wasn't like everybody went sharing it for several various reasons.

"Regardless, the garage has been a fury of activity with cops questioning every single person they can come across," Alan states. "So boys, now that we've been left alone, can we get to work?" A mix of sighs and head shakes as the boys scatter around the car. They knew they better not stumble around longer as there was a list of things to be done. Chase remains with Alan, shaking his head. "I think I figured out something that will work today – or at least, I can say that I've put in a good effort. I've changed everything."

"Well, you're not quite there yet," Chase comments, as Alan looks back at him puzzled. He hadn't seen the full list and already had commentary to share. "You're still stuck with me." Alan smiles as he looks over at his driver. He wasn't about to complain in knowing Chase's abilities.

"Look at it this way, then. If we suck today, I say we change the driver next." Chase looks on shocked, not having expected that retort in a million years, as Alan just laughs. "We'll be fine, kid. Don't worry. Just be careful, alright?" Chase shakes his head yes.

"Ugh, found him finally!" Sarina lets out as she enters the garage stall, walking up to Chase and giving him a big hug. Chase wasn't about to complain, easily accepting after their time apart. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Chase says as he keeps his arms wrapped around her as tightly as possible. "What do you mean 'finally'? You could've texted me." She pulls out her phone, hitting the button to turn it on with no power. He wasn't surprised, knowing how much she loved playing games. "You killed your phone, again?"

"I forgot to charge it last night and then I left my bag with the cord and portable charger in the hauler." He shakes his head in disbelief, again not surprised as she had done that before too. "So I landed this morning in Pennsylvania with my brother. He came here pretty shortly after, and my plan was to find you. Well, that didn't happen right away as I got tied up with Kyle and Samantha, and oh lawdy that was a discussion of everything from here to there. I think Kyle knows every bitty detail that happened in Texas now." Chase chuckles, knowing how thorough Kyle could be at times. However, he understood the approach in having seen the success and knowing how well it had worked for himself.

"It's what makes him one of the best team owners to drive for, though." She knew that was right, whether she agreed to the discussion or not. She would've rather been cuddling Chase sooner.

"So anyway, after we got done, I went to your motorcoach and no dice. So then I went and saw Ryan because heck, you normally hang out with him and it's early. Well, no dice there – but he wanted to chit chat about Texas, too. So another 10 minutes wasted and then I made my way to the garage area. I asked my brother if he saw you but that retreated to no avail so after checking two other spots, I found you."

"Sounds like you had quite the morning." She shakes her head yes, though knew it was worth it to be in his arms now. "Now, does this excitement compare anything to the weekend that was in Texas?" She laughs and shakes her head no. Everything was certainly bigger in Texas as her experienced proved.