Chapter 211 Obstacles
Only twelve laps remained in the final race of the season. Andrea was standing now, watching the race with her fingers crossed on both hands. She knew Case could do this, and the way the cars were spread out on the track, there was no reason to think he wouldn’t come in third and win the championship.
And then she saw the car spinning out of control right in front of him.
It was a lap car, one that had blown a tire earlier in the race and had some damage on it already. She thought the driver was new, a rookie who’d been thrown into the car a few weeks ago when the team owner had decided the veteran driver wasn’t cutting it. Clearly, this guy wasn’t ready either.
Andrea covered her mouth with both hands as she saw the car coming so close to Case. “Why isn’t he going around?” she thought. She could hear Truitt talking in the headphones. She was telling Case to go high, but he didn’t do it right away.
When he finally reacted, it seemed like he didn’t have enough time to steer around the out-of-control car. But then she saw the nose of Case’s car dodge up the track, swerving him around the other car. Case skirted the wall, barely brushing past it without hitting anything, and came out on the other side, avoiding the debris from the car just in the nick of time.
Andrea let out the breath she’d been holding. “Thank God,” she said, looking over at Brad who was literally wiping his brow.
“You okay?” Brad asked Case over the radio.
“Yes, but I’m probably going to need tires. I went through the debris field there.”
“All right. We’ll see how many other cars come in.”
Before Case could answer, it was apparent that he had a tire down. She could see it from here. “Is pit road open?” Case asked over the radio.
“Negative,” Brad replied. “If you come in now, we’ll get a penalty.”
They couldn’t afford to go a lap down. That would put Case out of the top ten, and Stewart was in seventh right now. He’d be handing the other drive the championship for the second year in a row.
“When’s it going to open?” Case sounded calm, but Andrea had a feeling his heart was beating out of his chest the same way hers was.
Brad shouted at one of the officials nearby who shrugged but said something over his own radio. They needed to allow the cars from the track to come down pit road so that they could get new tires before Case came back around to the opening of pit road, or the championship was over for him.
Andrea watched the flat tire start to come apart as Case entered turn three, half a lap from the opening to pit road. The more the tire came unraveled and threw up debris, the more damage Case would have to his car.
“Come on, come on,” Brad muttered.
Case was almost to the pit road opening, and the lights all along the pit stalls were still flashing yellow. He’d have to stop and let cars pass him, or he’d have to take the penalty. Or he could let his car continue to get damaged by the tire and make another lap.
“Please, God! Open pit road!” Andrea prayed.
At the last possible second, the lights turned off, and the green light for pit road turned on. “Come to me,” Brad said to Case, and he made the sharp left hand turn right before he passed the lane completely. The tire continued to disintegrate, and all of that rubber would have to be cleaned up, but at least Case would get his tire without losing too many spots on the track.
The pit crew quickly changed the tire and straightened up the fender where the rubber had beaten the side of the car. Case pulled out quickly and got back in line. It was hard to tell where he was at in line now because so many cars had pitted while others had stayed out.
After everything shook out, Andrea realized Case would be restarting in eleventh place with eight laps to go. That meant he’d have to pass one car to win the championship. It sounded easy enough, but everyone was stacked up now, and since cautions usually led to other cautions, there was a chance he would end up wrecking. It wasn’t over yet—there was a chance he could still lose the championship, after everything he’d done to get this far.
The yellow flag switched to green, and Andrea sucked in a deep breath, assuming she wouldn’t breathe again until it was all over. “Green, green, green!” Truitt said, and Case hit the gas, as determined as ever to pass a car and get that championship he so deserved.
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