Chapter 75 Getting Personal
“Have a seat, Case,” Jim Bronson, former NASCAR racer turned announcer said, offering a chair to Case.
“Thank you.”
“How have you been?”
“Good, good. How about you?”
“Great,” Jim said with a confident smile. “I’ve loved being home with the wife and kids.”
“Good for you.”
“Yeah. I don’t miss the craziness of getting ready for Daytona at all. I’m still getting ready, but in a totally different way. Listen, I’ll be asking you about ten questions, nothing you can’t handle. We’d like to discuss last season, what you’re doing to get ready for this year, that sort of thing.”
“Sounds like the standard package,” Case said with a shrug. “Let’s go for it.”
The camera people finished up what they were doing. The segment was being recorded to show at a later date, so at least it wouldn’t be life. Case used to get super nervous during live segments, but anymore, nothing really seemed to bother him.
The director called action, and Jim gave him a reassuring smile before he said, “Case, good to see you. What are you most looking forward to for Daytona?”
“I’m just ready to get back in the racecar,” Case said nonchalantly. “I’ve missed racing. It seems like our off-season is short until we’re in it, then, I’m counting the days to get back in the car.”
“What have you been doing during the off-season? Anything fun?”
“I saw some family and friends. Took a little trip, not too much.”
“We’ve all seen the pictures, Case. We know you’ve got a new girlfriend.” Jim said it like it wasn’t a big deal. “How is Andrea?”
Again, playing it off like it wasn’t a big deal, Case said, “Andrea’s great. We haven’t been going out long, but I look forward to seeing her whenever I get a chance.”
“Will Miss Sparks be at Daytona to cheer you on?”
“Assuming her schedule works out, she should be there, at least for the race.”
“Great. It’ll be nice to see her at the racetrack. Now, you ended the season with some major disappointment. How do you bounce back from something like that? You were so close to winning the championship and had it all taken away from you at the last second.”
Case assumed the question was coming. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his emotions in check. “Yeah, it was rough. But that’s how it goes in life. You win some and you lose some. I took some time to reflect on it, to see what I could learn, and now I’m ready to move on. Last year was last year. Now, we’re going to focus on this season.”
Jim nodded like he was satisfied with that answer, but his next question implied that it wasn’t good enough. “In racing, grudges sometimes last a long time. We all saw Stewart Antony knock you out of the way to win last year. Do you think you’ll take this fight back onto the race track?”
“You know, Stewart is a young guy. He’s a cool kid. We talked about it afterward. I don’t have anything against Stewart. I’m happy for him.”
“So you don’t see yourself taking him out if you get a chance to? Turning a little too hard into him in a corner at Darlington or bumping him in the quarter panel at Talladega?”
Case kept his easy smile on his face, even though Jim was getting a little too personal. “No, not at all. That’s not how I drive. All of my fans know I drive clean. Anytime there’s contact between my car and another, it’s purely a racing incident.”
“Fair enough. What about Stewart’s teammate on Dennison Racing, Gordon Jones? How are you feeling about him right now?”
Confused, Case shrugged, his forehead knitting together. “What do you mean? Why would I be mad at Gordo? We haven’t tangled in… ages.”
“Maybe you haven’t heard. He’s dating your ex-girlfriend, Sarah Lockton. Were you not aware of that?”
Case felt the color drain from his face—not because he cared who Sarah was dating but because he knew for a fact there was only one reason why Sarah would be dating Gordon, and it had nothing to do with her being attracted to the middle-aged driver. “Uh, you know, Sarah and I haven’t dated in a while, and she’s free to date whoever she wants to. Gordon can date whoever he wants as well. Really, I’d rather not focus on my personal life right now, not with Daytona coming up.”
“Sure, sure,” Jim said, as if he hadn’t been trying to get an emotional reaction out of Case. “Still, it will be interesting to see how Sarah and Andrea interact at the track since, as everyone knows, they don’t get along.”
“I’m sure they will both act like the mature professionals they are,” Case said with a tight smile. In his head, he knew that wasn’t the case, though. Andrea would certainly do her best to stay away from Sarah, but Sarah was going to do whatever she could to come after Andrea. Focusing on racing would be very hard while he was constantly watching his back and keeping an eye out for Sarah to come after Andrea.
Jim stood and shook his hand, and Case thanked him for his time, hurrying off the set so he could go call Andrea and see if she knew what Sarah was up to.
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