Page 148 of Trading Paint

“Keep coming, flag’s in his hand. Keep coming...keep coming...” Tate did what I expected, lagging back but I had it timed and came off the line just as strong, if not stronger.“Green flag!”

“Inside on the line, even with you,” Aiden guided me into the first turn.

This went on for a few laps; Darrin remained on my inside while I worked with Tate on the outside. His car was stronger than Bobby’s though so we were able to keep in front of them. Once the green flag had dropped, the nerves left and I felt like the same fixated single-minded guy I always was on the track. I led a little and did exactly what Kyle had told me to do; I stayed focused and smooth. As with any temper sensitive track, conditions began to change after about a hundred laps and the adjustments we made just didn’t help.

“Can you see the air?” Kyle joked at one point.

“I can barely see the goddamn gauges, let alone air.” I mumbled.

That got a chuckle out of both Aiden and Kyle.

I was trying desperately to hang on to my vibrating race car. I was fine in the draft but once I would get in front my car slid all over the place. It was apparent I wasn’t going to be leading this race. No matter what we changed, the car wouldn’t tighten up and if there is no scarier feeling on a track than when you reach speeds near two hundred and it’s loose.

It never got better but I managed to hang onto it and pull through with a third place finish. Again, I wanted to win but it goes back to so did forty-two other guys.

During the cool-down lap, Kyle picked then to provoke me. “What’s the matter, couldn’t hang onto it?”

“Obviously I did hang onto it.” I snapped. “I finished didn’t I?”

“Well yeah, but third...I thought for sure you could win.”

“If you keep talking, I’m pretty sure I’m going to kick your ass when the race is over.”

“You’re all talk.”

“Really?You’re gonna test me, huh?”

“Let’s see what you got Riley.” Kyle teased laughing.

I wasted no time at all in climbing out of that car to kick his ass. I failed to realize that Kyle was about the size of a black bear so my chances were slim.

The media got a kick out of the wrestling match, as did the rest of our team. It’s not like two guys pushing and shoving each other in the pits wouldn’t go unnoticed in a sport that thrived on temper tantrums from drivers but this was all in good fun.

In the end, we laughed and he responded with, “I knew you had your hands full out there.” He slapped the back of my head and then bounced on the balls of his feet like a boxer then ruffled my hair. “You’re an awesome wheel man.”

After our childish wrestling, the rest of the team congratulated me as didSway.

Reporters were standing by but I didn’t care at that point. I wrapped my sweaty exhausted arms around her, pulling her against my chest tightly.

“You stink.” She giggled but made no attempt to pull away.

“I just raced hours in a car that was well over a hundred degrees inside.”

“You still stink...but I never said it bothered me.”

“In that case...” I grinned wickedly and wiped my face against hers. I could feel the wetness on my face when I got out of the car so I knew damn well that was now all over her.

“Jerk face.” She snapped pulling away from me. I let go this time.

“Jerk face?” I chuckled brushing a towel over my neck.

“Yes, I said jerk face.”

It was hard to respond after that as the mediawas wantingtheir interviews from the rookie driver who just placed third in his first cup race.

I gave them what they wanted, interviews, one cookie-cutter interview after the next. Finishing in the top three meant another round of press known as the Contenders Conference. This was a press conference held for the media to ask questions of the driver, crew chief and car owner, as though the interviews after the race weren’t enough. If you haven’t noticed by now, I did not like interviews.

After the race, most of the team had flown back to the shop to get ready for California next week.

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