The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina's Story

Chapter 50: Auto Club 400

Saturday March 17, 2018 – Auto Club Speedway

Chase walks into the garage stall, walking over to where Alan was going over notes for practice. 

He almost didn't want to say anything and break the concentration. He also had no idea what would be on the crew chief's mind considering what had happened the day before - but that was also persuading him to do something. Alan had gotten a gun pointed at him due to Chase. That wasn't fair, and persuaded Chase to ensure he took care of the crew chief now.

"Hey," he finally says quietly. "How are you after yesterday?" Alan lets out a sigh as he glances up from his notes. The annoyance could be seen on his face immediately, and Chase knew he should've just kept quiet. 

"Is everybody going to ask me that question today?" Alan wonders as he looks over at Chase. He almost bit his tongue in the response, as if anybody understood the question better than the most it was the man standing before him. 

"I didn't mean to offend you..." Alan shakes his head as he glances down at his feet. Yep, he felt terrible now for his response. 

"Every single crew member asked me how I was this morning. Shannon held me tighter last night than normal because it spooked her. Austin wanted to know what it was like, actually and strangely." Chase was a little caught off-guard by that revelation from one of Alan's boys, but the comment with regards to Shannon caused a sigh. This wasn't part of the job description. This wasn't fair for Alan to have to be enduring this.

"Alan, I feel terrible for what happ-"

"You don't need to start apologi-"

"It's not part of a normal crew chief duti-"

"And I would do it again if I had to, Chase!" Chase looks over surprised. That was certainly not the response he expected to hear today out of all the things from Alan. Was this really happening? "How many times do I need to tell you that? I would do whatever it takes for you. Sure, that was a little close for comfort – but I would do it again if necessary. Shannon recognizes that too, and respects that, and even says that she was glad that I was there for you. You didn't ask for Alison to go after you, so I can't stand here and let you blame yourself and apologize for it." Alan glances back over his notes. He wanted to get back to work. He didn't want to think about it any longer. Who wanted to think about being forced to look down the barrel of a gun? "For what it is worth, sure, it scared the crap out of me, and maybe I'm a little on edge today. Sure, there's small things that I may react to now that I wouldn't before. But hey, that's understandable right? Everybody understands that. As long as we're both okay physically, then the rest is easy as ever. I'll be fine, okay?" Chase nods his head.

"Thank you. Are we on-track in 10 minutes?" Alan nods his head as he watches Chase go to walk away. He then reaches out his hand, placing it on the young man's shoulder. While he was trying to avoid conversation, he knew he should be addressing it - and knew Chase needed to hear that.

"I know you're just going to try and brush off what happened yesterday, the past couple of months with Alison as it was nothing. But Chase, I know that she screwed with you in more ways than one. I caught your reactions to those notes at times, right? Just promise me that you'll do what you need to do for you." Chase glances back at the crew chief. There was one reason he slept better last night than he had for a long time.

"Knowing that she's locked away and can't do anything else to anybody, myself included, is comfort enough.." Chase then continues walking away as Alan goes back to looking over the notes.

The practice went solidly with Chase finding comfort in the car throughout the session, ultimately ending up third on the charts to give them hope moving forward.