Page 134 of Happy Hour

How awesome would it be to have Sway here and win, on my birthday?

When I took the green, I was on a mission. I said little, only asking for lap times occasionally. This was my way of seeing how close I was running to the lap times on the leader. With twenty to go, I was running in second and battling with Paul for the lead. Getting a nose under him, he put up a good fight for a while.

“Paul’s spotter just came over,” Aiden said. “he said go high, and Paul will let you go.”

“Yeah right,”

“No, they think they’ve got a problem, engine maybe.”

“He smoking now,” I replied and went high.

Sure enough, Paul’s engine blew coming out of four but thankfully didn’t bring out the caution.

“How many laps now?”

“Fourteen to go,” Kyle told me. “Hit your marks and stay focused. You’re running lap times a second faster than the rest of the field.”

I went back to singingPurple Rain.

“Two to go this time by, it’s all clear in front of you. You’ve got a 2.1 second lead on the forty-eight.” Kyle said when I passed the start/finish line.

I was quiet again aside from the rumble of the engines. It was the only way I could focus on hitting my marks I set and keeping the car straight. The last few laps were also the crucial ones because drivers tended to get carelessly aggressive, me included.

When the white flag was displayed, Sway came on the radio again singing in her best Prince voice.

“You are so adorable.” I crooned back at her when she finished and as I came out of turn four to the checkered flag, I yelled, “This one’s for you, honey!”

The emotion of the last few weeks got to me as other drivers that passed, waved and congratulate me.

So much had happened with Sway, Charlie...everything.

Doing a burnout, I knew that was Sway’s favorite part so I did an extra-long one until the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see and I was sure the engine let go.

Once I made it to victory lane, Sway was there waiting for me along with my mom, Emma, Alley and Lane. When I pulled the car in and killed the engine, Kyle stuck his head inside and ruffled my hair. “Nice fucking job, bud!”

“Thanks for giving me a good car, and great pit stops. It’s a team effort,always.” I reminded him.

Most thought it was all on the drivers but really, every person within a race team contributed to a win. From the engine specialist to the tire specialist, from the crew chief to the pit crew, it was a team effort and if all those aspects lined up, your team was unstoppable. We were unstoppable. They could fine us, challenge us or whatever else but I knew then we were unstoppable as a team.

Taking my time removing my gear, I tried to gain some composure again. When I pulled myself from the car, my team roared to life, beer sprayed, cameras were flashing but I only wanted to find my girl.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her making her way over to me with a huge grin that mirrored my own.

Once Sway reached me, I wrapped her into my arms for a tight hug. “Thank you so much for coming.” I whispered in her ear pulling back to kiss her.

I didn’t care that the entire world was watching this on television or that there was a crowd of people gathered around, I only cared that my girl came for me.

She was choking back tears when I pulled away so I gently brushed them away with my trembling hand and drew in a shaky breath, holding back my own emotions. It’d been one hell of a week.

Sway smiled again. “Happy Birthday, baby,”

“Thanks,” I grinned. “You’ve made it the best yet.”

Reporters were hovering, wanting their interviews so I shifted Sway to my side, keeping a firm grasp around her waist when Neil with ESPN asked his questions.

“First off, happy birthday!” he told me patting my back. I leaned into him because everyone was still screaming around us making it difficult to hear him. “So tell us, how’d you pull of your fourth cup career win?”

“We had an awesome car all day. I couldn’t have asked for a better car here. The crew did great there on the last stop and got me four spots, which helped. I really need to thank them on this one. Not only do they give me excellent pit stops but these guys never stop.” Shifting my weight towards Sway, I continued on, “When I get to go home they are still at the shop getting ready for the next race so I owe this to them, truly I do. I need to thank my sponsor Simplex for standing behind me, they allow me to come out here each week and compete for the win, so thank you.” I took my hat off and bowed my head towards Melissa standing near us to which she gave me a wave. Turning towards Sway, I winked. “I’d also like send a quick hello to Charlie Reins. He helped me get started in racing and I owe a lot of my experience to him for letting me race even when the track was closed for the season.” I said with sincerity towards the camera. “Thanks Charlie.”

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