Chapter 187 Pushing It
Kissing Andrea quickly, Case climbed into the racecar. He told her he loved her, and she ran her palm along his cheek, and then he slid inside, buckling his belts and putting his helmet on. It was time to go racing.
He had plenty on his mind, though. Andrea had been acting oddly all day. He couldn’t quite figure out what it was. At first, he thought it was because her mom had gone nuts about the wedding, but then he thought it had to be something else. Every time he asked his fiancée about it, she said it was nothing to worry about and they could talk later.
His engine roared to life, and he pulled into line. He’d qualified well for the race, but he wasn’t on the pole. He could win from sixth, though. No problem. He steered his car along behind the car in front of him, his mind wandering back to Andrea and the wedding.
He needed to call his mom. He hadn’t told her. Shayna knew; she’d helped him plan the proposal, but he hadn’t felt like telling Rhonda because he knew she’d try to talk him out of it. But the longer he waited, the more he wondered if she’d hear it from someone else. So far, he hadn’t seen anything on social media about it being leaked, but it was just a matter of time since his entire team new about it. And if Andrea was on TV at all, sitting on his pit box with a giant ring on her finger, people would notice.
So he might’ve messed up in not talking to his mom. Hopefully, she’d just accept it. She had apologized to Andrea after all. Not that he felt she meant it….
Case couldn’t think about that right now, though. The race was set to go green in just a minute, and he needed to concentrate. Charlotte was a long race. With any luck, they’d get some separation, and he could spend most of the race just riding around in circles. But he’d have to concentrate because this race was unpredictable. It wasn’t a superspeedway like Daytona or Talladega, but it could be a dangerous place when people got sloppy.
For most of the race, things went smoothly. Stewart was out leading the race again, and Case was starting to think it was déjà vu seeing his car out front again. Normally, Stewart was able to take the lead because of his precision, but tonight, he was driving like a maniac, tearing in and out of traffic like he didn’t care if he lived or died. He needed to rein it in or he was going to get himself into trouble—and maybe other people, too.
Racing under the lights always made things a little more exciting and a little more dangerous. Case liked seeing the dark expanse of night above him, the bright lights of the stadium illuminating a thousand cheering fans, but he didn’t like the fact that the cars handled differently without the sun on the track. It was easier to get lose and slide. Which meant it was easier to wreck.
The race was about halfway over, and he was running in third spot. The cars were spread out for the most part, but he was catching up to the second place car, which wasn’t too far behind Stewart. With every lap, he was getting closer to taking second.
Case caught up to Benjamin Ryan in second place and took the high line to go around him. He could see Stewart ahead of him, half a lap in the lead. Ryan didn’t put up a fight, which was good, but it was still relatively early in the race, and most drivers weren’t going to slow a faster car down.
And then he caught up to Stewart.
Stewart was still driving erratically. He was coming up on some slower lap cars, and Case wanted to give him plenty of room to go around them before he even thought about trying to pass for the lead. The lap cars were willing to move aside for the most part, but then Stewart caught up to Whiskey Rogers, and everything went downhill very quickly.
Whiskey wouldn’t move. Instead, he got into line beside another car that was trying to stay on the lead lap and drove around next to him for several laps so that Stewart couldn’t get through. Even after the flagman through the black flag at Rogers, which meant he had to move or be penalized, he wouldn’t get out of the way.
Case couldn’t blame Stewart for being mad, but he’d had enough and took matters into his own hand. He rammed Whiskey in the back bumper.
Seeing this, the other car slowed down and moved aside so that Stewart could come through, even though it meant that car would be a lap down. Case assumed he thought being a lap down was better than being wrecked. Stewart swung out to go around Whiskey, and Whiskey turned him.
Right in front of Case.
There was nowhere for him to go. His choices were to hit Stewart in the back quarter panel or try to evade him and hit that car that had just gone a lap down. He’d do a lot of damage to that car if he side swiped him, and they’d both spin out, so Case opted to do his best to go around Stewart. He caught him in the back, like he knew he would. Then, Case tried to correct his trajectory and hit Whiskey, too.
All three cars tangled together, going up the racetrack and then shooting back down to come to a rest in the infield.
Case took a deep breath and said over his radio they were done. But then he realized that Stewart and Whiskey were both getting out of their cars. Case quickly unbuckled, thinking this couldn’t be good.
Stewart still had his helmet on, but Whiskey didn’t. Running at full speed, Stewart plowed into Whiskey, knocking him into his car. Case could get out faster without his helmet on, so he took it off and slid out the window. Cars on the track were still going by near where the two were fighting, and even though they’d slowed down because of the yellow flag, they were still going fast.
Case tried to come between the two who were throwing punches now. “Stop!” he shouted. “You guys are acting stupid! Knock it off!”
“This doesn’t concern you, Meyer!” Whiskey shouted. He pushed Case backward, hard, and he went flying—toward the track.
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