With having been together now for two years, Sarina Ott has watched herself grow closer and closer with each passing day to the love of her life, Chase Elliott. While previously purely independent, dead set focused on her future and leaving the past...
Chase walks down pit road, wrapping his arms around Sarina as she just smiles.
"You did amazing," he tells her, kissing her cheek.
For her debut in the XFINITY Series, she had run up front all night after qualifying fourth, posting a runner-up finish to Christopher Bell.
"I guess I can't complain about finishing second, huh?" She offers and he shakes his head no. He wished his debut had gone as well as hers had gone. He was also glad that she had showcased her talent to everyone.
"Everybody dreams of having their debut go that well," he comments as she turns around to face him.
"Then why am I still a little disappointed?" He smiles as he wipes the hair out of her eyes. He didn't need to say the reason why as they both knew it deep down.
"Because you're a racer, and you could smell victory, and when you come that close, it just makes you want it that much more. But you still did an amazing job. You proved that you can run with the best of the best, leading laps, and holding a pretty wheel. It won't be long before you're collecting checkered flags." She smiles, never minding if their flirting consisted of compliments of that nature.
"I was catching him...." Chase nods his head, having watched that and grew excited in that period wondering if it was really possible to see a rookie win in their first start. Just imagine the headlines in her not only being the first female to win an Xfinity race, but in her debut.
"You never should've left the bottom. I know you found speed in practice on the high side, but that bottom was working and that's how you caught hi-"
"But I couldn't pass him.." Chase just shakes his head. He saw another on the monitors to say otherwise.
"That would've came. You should've kept hounding his bumper, just riding it, and then the hole would've opened or a nice well-timed bump would've worked, rookie." She just rolls her eyes, almost hating how easily he had put the game plan together. That was why he was racing on Sundays, and she was working her way to that opportunity.
"I guess next time I'll ask myself what Chase would do, right?" He just chuckles. While he had the perfect plan for her today, he knew that was not always the case.
"Careful about that. I've thrown away enough races that you shouldn't do that." She then looks at him surprised. "I'm serious. Who finishes second seven times without a win? This guy."
"You're going to win, and that could very well happen tomorrow night." He smiles, knowing it was possible given how strong practice went. However, he wasn't about to write the storybook just yet.
Ups! Gambar ini tidak mengikuti Pedoman Konten kami. Untuk melanjutkan publikasi, hapuslah gambar ini atau unggah gambar lain.
Saturday April 21 – Richmond Raceway
"What did I say about finishing second?" Chase questions as he walks through the garage area with Sarina after the race.
It wasn't no simple easy night as it seemed he was running all over the grid throughout the night, following an ill-handling car mid-race among other things. However, some well-timed restarts at the end of the event allowed him to make up some good ground, finishing second to Kyle Busch.
"You jinxed yourself," she jokes as he just rolls his eyes. "But hey, considering your night, I'm not complaining." He couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Best news is you get Alan back next week."
"I like Kenny, but you're right – things run smoother with Alan and I can't wait for him to be back. Besides, Talladega is next week...." He glances over at Sarina, who was instantly a fit of nerves. Every bad crash he had been through flashed through her mind instantly. "Hey, I like plate racing...."
"Oh I know you do, and you're certainly great at what you do as you can make the moves that you need to make – unless AJ Allmendinger is anywhere near you. But is it human nature for me to worry about you? I mean, let's face it – you have a pretty interesting highlight ree-"
"Who sprained their ankle at Talladega in an ARCA crash?" She nods her head, remembering that experience from last year. Just another reason why her skin was crawling right now. He should be helping manners.
"See, you make your case for me as we both scared the crap out of each other a couple times, and I'm running the XFINITY Series race. Given my track record for plate tracks, can you hence my nerves?" Chase nods his head in agreement, now seeing where her nerves were coming from. Why was he beginning to feel those, too?
"You did great in the ARCA race back at Daytona. That should give you some hope.." She then laughs as that's all that race would ever be in her mind. Other than that, it was a complete screw show that she could just look back at and laugh.
"I still can't believe I ran out of gas under yellow and then got penalized for lagging back on a restart..." Chase chuckles, remembering the conversation with Todd and David on the pit box. "I love you."
"I love you, too." She then reaches over, holding his hand with her own as she looks into his brown eyes. Even with the special fun moments like then, she could still see what lingered from the weeks before. She just knew that she needed to do what Sam said – be there no matter what, and be ready for when he wanted to say something.
