Chapter 14 Regan
FOURTEEN
REGAN
Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for this race. It seems that all the work that my team and I put into this setup has been for naught.
I’m starting twenty-fifth for this race. Sure, it’s the longest race of the season, and there are ways to make up that ground, but it’s not the start I wanted for my hometown race.
It really sucks that Dad can’t be up on the pit box today.
Again—consequences of my own actions. This is just qualifying and practice.
I’m hoping we can get our shit together for the actual race.
Dad's replacement, Danny Shoulderman, and I just keep butting heads on almost everything. He’s about the same age as Dad, but he thinks that just because he’s older, he’s right about everything.
It’s really frustrating. Without trust between a crew chief and driver, it can make things even harder during a race.
It doesn’t help that after Dixon came by the shop the other day, I haven’t been able to get him out of my head. I thought the one time after seeing him at The Meadows Diner was going to be enough…but I was wrong. Seeing him outside the racetrack has me seeing him in a different light.
One where in another world, we could maybe be friends.
Or something more. But we are not in that world.
We’re in this one. And I may or may not have scoped out his perfect ass as he left to go back to his truck after I rolled back under the car.
I also may have had another long bath that night, thinking about said ass.
I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. We have seen each other every weekend throughout the racing season for two years, and all I’ve ever felt is dislike for the guy. Now, he’s part of my fucking fantasies, distracting me from my goals.
I’m walking down the grid to get to my car when I notice Dixon with Daniel and his family from the hospital.
It’s really sweet of him to do that for that little boy.
Dean gives Daniel a fist bump and leaves them to continue walking around the pits.
A woman stops him, and he gives her a kiss on the cheek. Another grid girl?
A wave of something that I don’t recognize washes over me. It settles in my chest and sits there, heavy. I don’t like seeing that. Wait, is this jealousy? No. I can’t be jealous. I have nothing to be jealous about.
Dean notices me and I wish him good luck anyway, though this feeling still dancing in my stomach. I do my best to shake it all off so I can concentrate on the race at hand.
Opening ceremonies are complete, and I’m climbing into my car and getting strapped in. Although Dad isn’t up on the pit box as my crew chief, he’s still here and comes to my car window to give a bit of a pep talk before we start.
“You got this. Stay calm and push your way through the field. Talk to Shoulderman like you would if he were me,” he says, tightening my belts again over my shoulders.
“Let’s do this.” I give him a fist bump through the window, and he puts the window net up, locking it into place before climbing back over the pit wall.
The green flag waves and the race begins. Shoulderman and I were able to agree on some changes during practice finally, and so far have helped, but we still have a long way to go to make this car at least top fifteen worthy.
The race has fallen into a steady rhythm, and green flag pit stops are starting. We have to be sure that we get this right—one mistake can cost us any ground that we’ve already gained.
“Come down this time,” Shoulderman calls over the radio.
“Ten-four,” I confirm.
“How’s it handling?”
“A bit tight. Need to loosen it up.”
I come down pit road and stop in my box. The crew gets to work on changing tires, adding fuel, and doing adjustments. I’m still waiting for the jack to drop, to signal I’m good to leave the pit box. It shouldn’t be taking this long.
“What's the hold up?” I ask Shoulderman, confused.
“Lug nut got stuck.”
Of course it did. Finally, the jack drops, and I’m able to take off down the lane. Once the cycle is complete, I lose five spots; so, not great, but not the worst thing that could happen.
“Keep cool. There’s still time to come back from that mishap,” Shoulderman says. He’s right. I have to keep calm, just like Dad said.
The handling is finally starting to come to me and I’m able to make it into the top fifteen again. This is where I wanted to hopefully end up. Now is the time to see how much further up I can get before this race is over.
“Caution is out. Caution is out,” my spotter calls as the yellow lights come on around the track. “Looks like Leslie and Hicks got together.”
That sucks for Leslie, but I’m not too upset about Hicks wrecking out of the race. Serves him right.
“When pit road is open, come down. Four tires and fuel. Need any adjustments?”
“Still a little tight, but leave it, see if it fixes itself over time,” I respond.
“Ten-four.”
Maybe Shoulderman and I can learn to work together, after all. We have a perfect stop, and I’m off again to line up to restart this race. I make it into the top eight, and there is still about a third of this race to go. I know I can hold it here as long as things go smoothly.
Once the race restarts, I get a good launch out into the first set of turns, making it three wide across the track.
With my momentum, I’m able to pass them fairly easily.
I’m picking off cars one by one, and I can see Hart and Sanford battling for the lead, with Dixon gaining on them.
Slowly, I start to reel Dixon in, and soon, I’m on his bumper.
Another caution and another round of stops occur. Most of the top cars, including me, stay out to keep our track positions. With this restart, there are ten laps to go, and anything can happen. I didn’t think I’d make it into the top fifteen, let alone the top five.
My heart is pounding in my chest. I’m putting my all into the last laps as they start to wind down to finish this race, and I’m still not able to pass Dixon.
“Save fuel. We may be short a lap,” Shoulderman calls.
Fuck!
“Dixon may also be short. Ease up, but don’t lose sight of him,” he adds.
I keep pace with Dixon, but I don’t gain any ground on him. Five laps to go and Sanford passes Hart for the lead. I notice that I’m starting to gain some ground on Dixon. He’s letting up to save fuel.
White flag is in the air, and I take a risk. I punch it to get around Dixon and hope we can make it around this track one more time. I glimpse into my rearview mirror and see that Dixon is wiggling back and forth, and one, two, three cars pass him.
He’s out of fuel.
I pull out a third place finish while Dixon drops to tenth. With all things considered, it’s a good day. And we finished in front of Dixon to keep him from gaining points on us in the championship standings.