Love in Victory Lane (A Chase Elliott FanFic)

Chapter Twenty Four

A few minutes before Sprint Cup qualifying runs began, Chase, Ryan, Emily, and I made our way to the garages so we could wish a few drivers good luck. The first driver we found was Jimmie Johnson. "Hey, JJ," Chase greeted him. 

"Hey guys," he replied. He turned to me and Emily and said, "These goofs haven't ran you pretty ladies off yet?" 

We all laughed. "We ain't going nowhere," Emily and I said simultaneously. 

Jimmie laughed and said, "Well, that's a good thing. You girls are pretty cool. Nice to see these guys have found some girls worth having." 

Chase gripped my hand and smiled at me. "Yeah, Hunter's alright. I think I'll keep her," he winked. 

"You better keep me," I laughed. 

Chase chuckled, and Ryan spoke up. "Yeah, there's no way I'm letting this dime get away from me," he said. Chase agreed with Ryan, and Emily and I both said, "Aw." 

Chase turned to Jimmie and gave him a fist bump. "Good luck in qualifying today." 

"Thanks, Chase. I'm going to try to get this pole and win a race so I can be secure in this chase," he replied. 

"Yeah, man I totally understand that," Chase commented. 

As Chase said this, I felt someone put his hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to see Dale Jr. standing behind me. "Dale!" I exclaimed. I instantly gave him a hug, which surprised even me, but he did not seem to mind, he just hugged me back. 

"Hey girly, what's up?" he asked. 

"Chase was just wishing Jimmie good luck in qualifying. You were our next stop, but you beat us to it," I answered. 

"Ah. Cool," Dale replied. 

"You feeling good about your car, Dale?" Chase asked. 

"Yeah, I mean there's always a few things we can tweak to make it better, but I think we can make a good run for the pole," he replied. 

"That's good," Chase said. "Well we're gonna keep making our rounds, we'll catch you guys later. Good luck, Boss," Chase smiled. 

"Thanks, Chase," Dale replied. 

"Bye, Dale. Good luck in qualifying. I know you can do great just keep your head in the game," I told him. 

He gave me a hug before we walked off and said, "Thanks, Hunter. I'll do my best."

We walked away and followed Ryan and Emily to the Penske garage. Not necessarily my favorite place to be, but hey, I liked Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski could be tolerable at times. Ryan started talking to Brad and Joey, and Emily looked awestruck. She was a very big fan of Joey Logano, so she was excited to meet him. 

"Joey, OMG, I am so happy to meet you. You're one of my favorite drivers," she managed to say.

"Aw, thanks," Joey replied. 

Ryan introduced Emily to Brad and Joey, and Brad gave her a hug. "Any friend of Ryan's is a friend of mine," he said. "Especially when it's a girl." 

We all laughed, and Chase, Emily, and I talked to Joey while Ryan talked to Brad about the Discount Tire team. "This is the first time I've met you, but I have your autograph," I told Joey. 

"Oh, really? That's cool. How did you get my autograph?" he asked. 

"My dad was at a machine show in Chicago the year I turned thirteen, and Nascar was in town for the race, and you were there. He knew I liked you, so he got you to sign a hero card, and you said, 'Happy Birthday Hunter' on it. I freaked when Daddy gave it to me. I almost passed out!" I laughed. 

"That's amazing! Glad I finally got to meet you," he said. 

"Yeah! Me too," I replied. "Next race I'm at, I'll bring it and show you." 

"That would be so cool," he said. 

"I was so jealous when I found out she had your autograph, because everyone seemed to have one, and I didn't. And I was one of your biggest fans! It didn't seem fair to me," Emily commented, laughing. 

"Don't be jealous anymore, Emily," Joey said. "I'll make sure you get something really special autographed by me before you leave."

"Joey, you are so awesome!" Emily replied. "Thank you so much!" 

Joey smiled and gave her a hug. "It's the least I could do for my biggest fan," he answered. 

Ryan came back over to us, and told us we had to leave if we wanted to go get our seats before qualifying began. Chase and I wished Joey and Brad good luck. Emily gave them each another hug and told Joey, "Good luck with qualifying. Go show 'em how it's done, Joey!" 

"I will, Emily. I'll give it all I got just for you," he said with a smile. Emily laughed, and we started walking back to the golf cart. 

Halfway to the golf cart, we saw Kevin Harvick walking with his wife Delana and his son Keelan. I absolutely loved his son; he was the cutest thing on earth, so I had to go say hi. I told Chase what I wanted to do, and he readily agreed. We walked up to them, and Chase shook Kevin's hand. 

"Hey, rookie! What's up?" Kevin greeted Chase. 

"Ah, nothing much. Fixing to go watch some qualifying," he replied. 

"Oh, really?" Kevin began. "Funny, cause I am on my way to go drive in qualifying," he joked. Everyone laughed, and Kevin said, "Who is this you got here?" 

"This," Chase said, "Is Hunter." 

"Nice to meet you Hunter," Kevin said to me. 

"Nice to meet you too," I replied. "You're a great driver, and it's really showing through this season. You're a real threat to win it all."

"Thanks so much," he said. "I've been working really hard, and I think this year might be my year." 

"Just might be," I agreed. "Not only do you have great driving skills, but you also have the most beautiful family! I think your son is just adorable!"

"Thank you!" Delana said. "He's a mess."

"He's the cutest mess I've ever seen!" I declared.

Emily, Chase, and Ryan all agreed with me, and we really had to get going, so we started saying goodbye. Emily and Ryan wished him luck and walked away to go get the golf cart. "Good luck with qualifying, and it was really nice to meet you. Hope to see you again soon," I told them.

"Yeah, hope to see you again soon, too," Kevin replied.

"Yeah, and who knows, if we need baby sitting help one day when you're at the track, we might just contact you and Chase," Delana smiled.

"That would be my dream baby sitting job," I replied.

We said goodbye, and Chase and I joined Emily and Ryan on the golf cart. We wanted to watch qualifying like normal people so we went to a quiet remote spot in the bleachers, and watched qualifying. I screamed for Dale, and Emily and I cheered and jumped up and down with each good pass made. We all cheered, however when Dale qualified in fourth. Jimmie Johnson came in tenth, Joey Logano came in second, and Brad Keselowski came in twelfth place. Denny Hamlin won the pole. 

When qualifying was over, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Chase and I had to talk. "Chase?" 

"Yeah, baby girl?" he inquired. 

"We need to talk. Can we go somewhere private?" I asked. 

His forehead crinkled, and he had a worried look on his face. "Yeah, baby. I know just the spot. Let's go," he replied.