Chapter 101 Whiskey and Driving Don't Mix
The race was over halfway to finishing by the time Whiskey tried anything dirty. Case was ready for it. He’d done his best to stay away from the old man the entire race, but eventually, there was no avoiding it.
He was at the beginning of a line of cars with Charlie behind him and a few other Chevy drivers back behind them, trying to get back to the front of the line after a caution had caught them in a bad position after a pit stop. Yellow flags could be good because they meant a break from racing when drivers could come into the pit box for new tires and gas. In this case, the timing hadn't worked out, though, and Case and some of the others ended up at the back of all the cars when the green flag flew for everyone to start racing again. They were making up lots of ground by drafting together, working in tangent, and they had worked their way up through the pack so that Case was now in fifth place.
Whiskey was a lap down and had no chance of winning the race at this point. Not only was he a lap behind, his car was not running well, and he knew it. That hadn’t prevented him from falling into line with a bunch of cars on the lead lap, including Gordo, though there was another Ford tucked in between them, the seven car driven by Robbie Doyle.
When Whiskey made his move, it was obvious he didn’t care who he hit or who he took out. He didn’t even care if he wrecked himself, clearly.
Case saw Whiskey jump out of line a split second before he was about to take up the space the fourteen car now occupied. He only had two choices—hit Whiskey or swerve up the track and pray there wasn’t already someone there.
One of Case’s most advanced skills as a driver was keeping track of where the other cars were on the track, so when he pulled the wheel to the right, similar to the way he had avoided Gordon earlier that day, he didn’t think there was anyone there. He was right—there wasn’t. But the wall was closer than he thought, and with Whiskey continuing to travel up the racetrack and squeeze him, Case felt the side of his car scrape along the white barrier.
The car vibrated so hard, it hurt his elbows. He didn’t let go of the wheel, though. Instead, he inched off of the wall and tapped Whiskey who was miraculously still headed in the right direction until Case clipped him. Case kept control of his car and put his foot back on the gas, having lifted off of the gas pedal slightly when he went to the high side, closest to the wall. Now, he had to rush around Whiskey who was beginning to spin out of control.
Case didn’t have time to watch to see what was happening. He heard his spotter say in his ear, “Clear high, clear high, stay in the gas.” Case knew that meant he could go to the high side of Whiskey, that there was no one between him and the wall. The advice came a split second too late as that was what Case had already done. Behind him, he smelled smoke and heard the sound of multiple cars crashing into one another. He could only keep the car pointed straight and pray that Charlie would make it out of the cloud of smoke unscathed.
“Caution is out! Caution is out!” Truitt was shouting, and Case backed off of the gas, realizing he was now in second place behind Gordon Jones. As long as the yellow caution flag was flying, they couldn't drive fast or pass one another. He took a deep breath.
Once he was slowed down, Case took a second to look in his mirror. The view out the back window was nothing but smoke and flying car parts. He could see a few cars driving through the grass and was relieved to see that one of them was Charlie. While it was possible he had some grass in his bumper and maybe some bald spots on his tires, he should be okay.
The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the field. Brad’s voice came over the radio into his ear. “We’ve got a tangled up mess back here. There’s gotta be at least half the field of cars involved. Whiskey’s upside down. It’s gonna take a while to get that old sh*t out of his car.”
“D*mn,” Case muttered, though not over the radio. “There wasn’t anything I could do. He came out and cut me off.”
“No, there wasn’t anything in the world you could do,” Brad agreed. “Everyone knows that. No one’s blaming you. Except for Gordo, and he’s a dumba*s. Shake it off, brother. You’re in a good position to win this. That’s a million dollars out there waiting for you to pocket it, man. Calm down, take some deep breaths, remember this pretty girl sitting next to me up here, and get your game face on, man. When we go back green and start racing again, there’s gonna be about twenty-five laps to go in the race. We’re gonna wrap this sucker up and get ready for the real race next weekend. Got it, man?”
“I got it. Thanks, Brad.” Case fell into line next to Gordon and beside the pace car. Pit road wasn’t open, but he trusted Brad to tell him when and if they were going to come in to get new tires. Brad had a way of keeping him calm like no other, and that was one of the reasons why he was such a good crew chief.
After a quick stop in the pits, Case took position on the outside of the front row, closes to the wall. Charlie had made two stops, one to get the grass out of his bumper and one for new tires, so he was way in the back. With no help, it would be hard for Case to win. He’d have to make some friends really fast if he was going to find a way around Gordon and be able to stay there. With determination, he waited for the green flag to drop and then hit the gas.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
