Chapter 185 Time to Get to Work
As Case walked into the garage later that day, a huge cheer went up, and he had to pause to hide his face. “Okay—who told you?” he asked. He definitely wasn’t ashamed that he was engaged to Andrea. He just hoped to keep it on the down low, to not make a huge deal out of it.
When Charlie stepped in front of everyone else, pumping his fist and cheering, he had his answer. “You just wait,” Case said, shaking his head.
Charlie continued to grin at him like a Cheshire cat. “I’ll be d*mn happy to let everyone know I’m part of that family,” he said. “Assumin’ Leslie’ll have me one day.”
Case thought perhaps his friend was getting ahead of himself. He and Leslie hadn’t been going out that long, but it wasn’t his place to say anything, so he kept his mouth shut on the matter.
Looking at his crew chief and the rest of his pit crew, Case said, “All right. Can we practice racing now?” Once the cheering died down, the rest of the guys seemed just as ready to get out there as he felt. Case was itching to get out on the race track. Charlotte was one of his favorite places to race, and he really felt like he had a good chance to win tomorrow night.
“Sure, we can get back to racing, I suppose,” Brad said, a goofy grin on his face. “If we must. Where is the lovely Mrs. Meyer to-be?”
“She’s sitting with her family in one of the luxury suites today,” Case explained. “She’ll be on the pit box during the race tomorrow night, though.”
“Good. I like having her around. She makes me feel calm,” Brad explained.
“Why is that?” Case asked as he prepared to climb behind the wheel.
“Because she’s so nervous,” his crew chief replied. It wasn’t what Case wanted to hear, but at least he was honest.
A bit later, Case found himself in one of his favorite places in the world, out on the racetrack. Even though the race at Charlotte was held at night, practice was during the day, so he wouldn’t be able to get as much information from the track as he would if the conditions were the same. He was content to travel around and try a few different things on the track without any stress.
Case’s car was handling really well, but it did better when it was in clean air, which meant there weren’t a lot of other cars around. He did his best to stay away from the other cars so he could test out different lines on the track without having to worry about his car getting tight, which made it harder to steer.
About fifty minutes into the hour and a half practice, Case realized he was driving directly behind Stewart Antony. He followed him around the track for a little while, looking for his opportunity to make a pass so he could get back to clean air.
Case felt a little bad for the guy. He’d heard that Sarah had broken up with him a few days ago. Andrea had mentioned she was thinking about it after they had lunch, but it had taken Sarah a while to get it done. He’d heard she’d actually sent him a text, but he didn’t know if that was true. Even Sarah wouldn’t be that rude, would she? That was mean, even for her.
He watched Antony do a few more laps and then pulled out and went around him, giving the other car a lot of room. There was something about the way that Stewart was driving that worried Case. He seemed… unfocused, as if he wasn’t truly paying attention to the road in front of him or anything around him.
During practice when there weren’t so many cars on the track and everyone was being extremely cautious, that sort of driving might be fine. But tomorrow night, under the bright lights, when the stakes were high, every single one of them would have to be giving it their all from the drop of the green flag until the checkers. Case decided then and there he’d steer clear of Stewart Antony during the race, as long as he could help it. He smelled trouble.
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