# Getting Round at the Track (1-5) by Mac5689 (~BBW, Romance, Car Racing Dramas, ~SWG)



## Mac5689 (Sep 19, 2008)

_~BBW, Romance, Car Racing Dramas, ~SWG _&#8211; Secretly FA driver falls for a teammate who isn’t his usual type &#8211; at least initially


*Getting Round at the Track (1-5)
by Mac5689​*
*Prologue*

Alexander Hawkins was sitting in his crew chief Mark Steven's office along with the crew chief of his teammate. It was the weekly team meeting except for two things. One it was the end of the season, and two there was no teammate. Alexander’s former teammate Bernie Chandler was a thirty year veteran, who had retired to spend more time with his family.

Alexander and Bernie got along better then most teammates did when Alexander started in the Cup series two years ago. It was that as well as the jelling with their crew chiefs, that made them contenders almost every week. Nobody knew though what the next season would hold because nobody knew who the team owner Randy Wilson was going to hire to replace Bernie.

"How do you think we did this season?” asked Mark. 

“Well” Alexander started off, “we did great at Infineon and Watkins Glen, and fair at the Short and Restrictor Tracks. 

Mark nodded.

"But for some reason we did poorly in the chase. That includes Talladega and Martinsville” Alexander added with a hint of sadness at the end. 

Each of the men looked at each other with disappointment on their faces because they all knew what might have been the cause of that.

At the fall race at Bristol, Bernie announced that he was going to retire, and a rumor was started that Alexander was going to leave as well. A few weeks later there was still no word about who would replace Bernie, although Alexander did confirm that he was returning for the next year. But the damage was done. As a result Wilson racing didn’t finish in the top twenty the whole chase, and cost them any chance of contending for the championship. 

“It was a horrible chase wasn’t it” said Gene West, the other crew chief. 

"Yeah it was Gene” said Mark. Each man again looked at each other, then at the almost one thousand page notebook full of notes from the past season, from both teams.

Alexander was about to ask a question about the notes from the Daytona 500, when there was a heavy knock on the door. All three men looked up at the door and saw the owner Randy Wilson.

“I see you guys are hard at work” said the almost fifty year old owner, “so I’ll keep this short” he added, causing each of the men to give him a uneasy look. 

“I want to introduce you to the newest member of the Randy Wilson Racing team.” Alexander glanced at Gene and saw a look of disgust on his face, which told him that the newcomer was most likely his new teammate. 

Mr. Wilson moved aside and he swept his right hand out like a game show host showing a prize, “Guys, I want you to meet Ashley McDonald, our new driver.” 

In a blink of an eye, a 5’4”, short dark blonde, 95 pound woman stepped into the doorway. She wore a smile that showed that she was unsure of her welcome, but that smile for some reason made Alexander feel something he hadn’t since he got into the Cup series. And for the first time he was worried about having a new teammate.

*Chapter One - Breaking the Ice*

Alexander sat behind his desk in what he called an office. His office wasn’t as big as his crew chiefs or the owner’s, it was more like a broom closet.

The team had just got gotten back from January testing and he should be looking over the Daytona notes, since in a week they would be going down there for the Budweiser shootout. But instead he was reading the June 2007 issue of FA monthly or as its better known as Fat Admirer monthly. He liked that issue the most, not only because of the woman who was picked as Miss June, but because there was a little story about him. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was a FA, but because of the sponsor he had on his car at the Richmond Spring race, three days before his birthday. His normal sponsor for that season was Waste Management, but since they didn’t want to sponsor the car the whole season they had to find other sponsors. 

So Alexander asked the management of a FA website called LoveofCurves.Com if they wanted to sponsor his car. They said yes, and since they were paying more then they needed to, Mr. Wilson didn’t care. 

The media on the other hand, was a different matter. They needed to know why &#8216;LoveofCurves’ was on his car, so he told them the only thing he could think of. And that was that women didn’t need to be skinny to look beautiful, but that didn’t stop them. They kept asking him if he was into big woman. In July Alexander’s former high school sweetheart was having some trouble and asked if she could stay with him, he being a good friend said yes. Since she joined him at every race in July, the media took that as he didn’t like big woman, they had no reason to expect another reason for his ex’s visit. 

There was a light knock on the door, Alexander throw the magazine into a desk draw and turned his attention to the door. Standing there in the doorway was Ashley. A woman who, when he first saw her about two months earlier, he thought was hot. But that was before he saw her in her fire suit. When he first saw her in her fire suit on the first day of testing at Daytona, he knew by just one look at her; that it was going to take all the strength he had to stay away from her.

“I’m sorry Alex, I didn’t mean to disturb you” Ashley said as she saw him throw what ever he was reading away. She figured it was a Playboy or something since she had made out what looked like a woman on the cover, but there was something strange about that woman. However she didn’t give it anymore thought because she couldn’t take her eyes off the man behind the desk.

“What can I do for you?” Alexander asked. 

“I was wondering if I could sit on your pit box during the shootout?” she asked nicely. 

“You should ask Mark,” said Alexander. 

“I did, but he said I should ask you” she replied. 

Ashley wouldn’t be able to drive in the shootout even though the car she was going to drive was entered into the event, because Bernie Chandler wanted to race one last time at Daytona. Alexander knew he should say no, but he also knew that it would-be a great learning experience for her. 

“Sure, you can sit on my pit box for the shootout” said Alexander as he tried to hide his displeasure. 

“Thank you,” said Ashley sweetly. 

“Not a problem” replied Alexander, even though to him it was, because how was he supposed to keep his mind on the race when he feared that all he would ever be thinking about was her becoming a plumper. It was just good that she didn’t know what type of magazine he’d been reading. . And why was he thinking that way about a girl who was in no way chubby? He was fighting confusion. 

As Ashley walked back to her office, she couldn’t believe that Alexander had said yes. But he had. Now she knew she just had to keep her mind on the race and not on the driver, which she found hard to do ever since she saw him in his fire suit.

(Continued in post 11 of this thread)


----------



## Mac5689 (Sep 21, 2008)

i just wanted to know, if anyone liked my story so far; and that i'm starting to write the first race weekend also known as Speedweeks.


----------



## Observer (Sep 22, 2008)

At this point you are still just laying foundation - I can't even assign keywords or write a summary. I'd say wait until you're about twenty more pages in and you'll be getting better feedback.

One suggestion: since a lot of readers aren't familisr with auto racing jargon and relationships you may want to explain some of your terms so that your fullmeaning is clear - starting with the rarity of female drivers i what was for a long time an all male sport.


----------



## Lardibutts (Sep 22, 2008)

Mac5689 said:


> i just wanted to know, if anyone liked my story so far.



Yeah, I do. I like the setting a lot. Can't think of another WG story about car racing. 

When I was a kid my dad was a big track racing enthusiast who got his company to sponsor drivers in single seaters and sports cars. These guys really were my heroes. 
Being a Brit, I don't follow a lot of your racing jargon at present - but I'll pick it up.

Good Luck - looking forward to Ashley getting some weighty driving experience under her belt.


----------



## FooMan (Sep 22, 2008)

hey there!
Lots of good potential so far. I do understand the NASCAR terms, but a lot of people don't, so maybe simplify it a little for them. Other than that one constant I have seen on this board is that people want a decent physical description before anything changes and periodically during the changes in character. Wish you lots of luck and ask that you check out my story 4f's and KMU further down


----------



## Mac5689 (Sep 22, 2008)

Observer said:


> At this point you are still just laying foundation - I can't even assign keywords or write a summary. I'd say wait until you're about twenty more pages in and you'll be getting better feedback.
> 
> One suggestion: since a lot of readers aren't familisr with auto racing jargon and relationships you may want to explain some of your terms so that your fullmeaning is clear - starting with the rarity of female drivers i what was for a long time an all male sport.




i tap the rarity of female drivers in the sport a little in my next addition, and i'll try to explain as much jargon as i can, because for somethings even the explnation of a word is hard to understand. 

really what i was aiming for when i asked if anybody liked it, is what u and the other commenters to my story have put.


----------



## Mac5689 (Sep 22, 2008)

i just thought i'd make a glossary of all the Nascar terms that i'm going to use in my next installment that will be done in the next few days.

_Sway Bar:_ Sometimes called an "Antiroll Bar". Bar used to resist or counteract the rolling force of the car body through the turns. 

_Track Bar:_ A lateral bar that keeps the rear tires centered within the body of the car. It connects the frame on one side and the rear axle on the other. Also called the "Panhard Bar"

_Wedge:_ term that refers to the cross-weight adjustment on a racecar.

_Loose:_ when the rear tires of the car have trouble sticking in the corners. also known as "Oversteer". this causes the car to "Fishtail" as the rear end swings outward during turns. A minor amount of this effect can be desirable on certain tracks.

_Tight:_ also known as "Understeer". a car is said to be tight if the front wheels lose traction before the rear wheels do. a tight racecar doesn't seem able to steer sharply enough through the turns. instead, the front end continues toward the wall.


----------



## Lardibutts (Sep 22, 2008)

Observer said:


> the rarity of female drivers in what was for a long time an all male sport.


On our side of the pond there have been some lady drivers, but invariably (to make the car go faster) very petite and disappointingly light in weight. 

But there was one notably chunky English motor-racing driver and theatre owner called Sheila Van Damm. A spirited lass, she drove in tough macho events like the Monte Carlo Rally and the Alpine Rally in a Sunbeam Alpine originally to advertise her Windmill Theatre, and won the Ladies' European Touring Championship in 1954.  
The Windmill in Soho was Londons notorious striptease revue theatre with the motto we never close. The wrong build to be a "Windmill Girl" herself, Miss VD published her autobiography _No Excuses _in 1957.

Looking forward to the next post of Getting Round and the plot thickening!


----------



## Mac5689 (Sep 22, 2008)

Lardibutts said:


> On our side of the pond there have been some lady drivers, but invariably (to make the car go faster) very petite and disappointingly light in weight.
> 
> But there was one notably chunky English motor-racing driver and theatre owner called Sheila Van Damm. A spirited lass, she drove in tough macho events like the Monte Carlo Rally and the Alpine Rally in a Sunbeam Alpine originally to advertise her Windmill Theatre, and won the Ladies' European Touring Championship in 1954.
> The Windmill in Soho was London’s notorious striptease revue theatre with the motto “we never close”. The wrong build to be a "Windmill Girl" herself, Miss VD published her autobiography _No Excuses _in 1957.
> ...




there have only been three or four female drivers in Nascar. three as recently as a year or two ago and one way back in the 50's or 60's. the prob is sponsers, Nascar thrives on Sponsers and sadly not that many believe that woman can win or finish well in races. and sometimes team owners feel the same way. sure Nascar has tried to change that by making a driver develoment program but nothing really happens with that.

my next instalment tells about the problem with Sponsers, the fact that there aren't much woman in Nascar, and Alexanders past in the Nationwide Series, and how he got to Wilson Racing. aswell as the Shootout.

there is also a sponser switch between Alexander and Ashley, that deals with the reason why there aren't many woman drivers, and Alexanders new sponser may be found as ironic


----------



## jjgreen14 (Sep 29, 2008)

interesting story, can't wait for future installments, nice to see a story with a different setting than most stories, good luck with the story and hope to see future chapters when they are ready


----------



## Mac5689 (Sep 30, 2008)

(*Author's note: *there would have been more but, i lost a page and can't continue to the end of the Shootout without it)

*Chapter 2: The Shootout*

Ashley felt ignored the whole flight to Daytona even though she was flying on Alexander's plane since the one provided for in her driver's contract hadn't yet been delivered. In fact it wasn’t until they were a few minutes to the end of the trip that Alexander turned around and asked her how she felt about making her first start at Daytona the next weekend.

She replied that she was excited and nervous at the same time. That brought a smile to both Alexander’s and his crew chief's face.

"You know what takes your mind off that?” said Alexander. 

“No,” replied Ashley sheepishly. 

“Neither do I,” Alexander said as he and his crew chief chuckled.

She couldn’t tell if Alexander said that to be helpful or to make her more nervous then she already was, but she was counting on the latter. It would perhaps make her stop being so drawn to him. 

Alexander hoped that what he just said was helpful. The truth was that he had no idea how to help a rookie. Even though there had been other rookies in the two years since he started racing in the Cup series none of them ever asked him for advice. They always went to Bernie, Matthew White, and Jerry Matthews, the three oldest veterans in the series. 

The plane touched down a few minutes later and Alexander, Ashley, and Alexander’s crew chief climbed into a waiting Limo. The limo took the three to the Driver Motor coach Lot. They then walked to the garage area where most of the teams were. 

Alexander looked at his number Twenty Five car which looked different then the previous year. The primary sponsor on his car was the same since he entered the Cup series, but the sponsor on the side of his car was never on his car before. That was because it was Bernie’s old sponsor. Since Bernie was going to retire and be replaced with a rookie that has never won a race in the Cup series, and since the sponsor wanted to be in victory lane, they knew their best bet was to switch to Alexander. 

Alexander’s sponsor Waste Management didn’t mind sponsoring Ashley on the number Thirty Six car. The only problem was that like the previous year was that they didn’t want to sponsor the whole season, so they would have to find alternative sponsors for those races for her. But when it comes to woman racers, there aren’t many sponsors willing to sponsor that car. But luckily for Ashley and Mr. Wilson, Alexander was great at getting sponsors and was working his magic to get her sponsors.

Alexander and Ashley went to Alexander’s motor home around four o’clock. The car in Alexander’s mind was race ready but not capable of winning, but that would change after practice. As they walked to the motor home lot neither said a word to each other. 

As they entered the motor home lot they were stopped by Matthew White. Matthew was a thirty year veteran who had spent the last ten years racing for the family team, which until a few years ago was a contender almost every week, and Matthew was lucky just to get into the shootout.

“Hey Alexander” started Matthew in his southern accent as Alexander and Ashley entered, “this your new teammate?” 

“Yes” said Alexander; then he turned to Ashley, “Ashley I’d like you to meet Matthew White.” 

“Hi,” said Ashley sheepishly as she stuck out her hand, and was surprised when Matthew shook it. 

“Nice to meet you ma’am; Pa always said that a woman would come into our sport and do well. I sure hope that its you.” Matthew said with a smile on his face. The White family was a firm believer that woman could drive a race car, but since nobody else believed that, they could never get anything going. 

There was one other woman that had tried her hand at racing in the Cup series. Her name was Ann Owens and she drove for a now defunct team called McGill racing. Ann did alright but at the end of that season McGill racing closed after twelve seasons. Everyone believed that Ann was the cause of the closing, even after the owner, Martin McGill said that it was because there was a lack of sponsorship. Everyone believed that Ann had caused the lack of sponsoring. 

As Matthew said goodbye to Alexander and Ashley, Alexander wondered if Matthew would still be racing for White Enterprises if his Nationwide Series sponsorship hadn’t fallen through. Alexander was found by Matthew’s father Caleb, racing on the Camping World East Series back in 2002. Caleb and Matthew put him in a Nationwide car the next season in hopes of getting back on top, but the sponsorship they had didn’t come back the next year and that was the end of that. However that one year in the Nationwide Series put Alexander in the eye of his current team owner. 

“The car is loose in Three and Four when I’m by myself,” Alexander said over the radio to his crew chief during practice for the Shootout the next day. 

“How are you in traffic?” asked Mark the crew chief.

“As tight as it is loose,” he replied. 

Mark turned to Ashley who was standing next to him on top of the team's hauler. 

“What do you think we should do?” he asked her as if she had been on the team for years. 

“Uh, I-I-I, uh” she stammered, “I think you should try a Track Bar adjustment or a Wedge adjustment.” 

“Don’t tell me,” said Mark as he pointed to Ashley’s headset, “tell him”. 

Ashley was nervous as she pressed the talk button on her headset. 

“Alex, what do you think about a Track Bar adjustment or a Wedge adjustment?” she asked Alexander nervously. 

“I’ll take the Wedge but I think it’s more the Sway Bar then the Track Bar. What do you think Mark?” Alexander replied as he flew through the tri-oval. 

“Sway Bar sounds right to me, but she gets points for trying doesn’t she?” asked Mark. 

“Of course she does” said Alexander. 

“Do you want me to go to the garage or the pits?” he asked as he started to slow on the backtrack. 

“The garage,” was Mark’s reply as he started towards the ladder that would lead him to the ground. 

Alexander pulled into his garage stall, and climbed out of the car in a swift motion that showed that he didn’t have to think twice about what he was doing. 

Alexander looked around for Ashley as his team went to work making adjustments to his car. 

“Where’s Ashley?” he asked. 

“She’s up on the hauler” said Mark without looking at the driver. 

Alexander climbed up to the top of the hauler and walked to where Ashley was watching what was happening in the garage, a bag from the local donut shop in front of her. She was munching in one with maple frosting and nuts &#8211; apparently the last of the group, a fact which Alex duly noted.

“You should get some sleep, busy day tomorrow,” he said, which made Ashley jump. 

Ashley turned around, looked into Alexander’s teddy bear brown eyes and said “I don’t want to go all the way to the hotel room then all the way back here later”

Alexander looked into Ashley’s dark brown eyes and said, “OK, you can crash in my motor home.” 

Ashley opened her mouth to object, but he walked up to her and placed a finger on her lips and said “I remember what it was like being a rookie; you’re a good driver. The last thing you want to do is be sleeping when you can learn the most.” 

When he was done he removed his finger and went back to his car. 

Ashley just stood there stunned as she heard Alexander restart his car and leave the garage. Mark Stevens, Alexander’s crew chief returned, which told Ashley that Alexander had gone back on track. 

“You know, you should get some sleep,” he said as soon as he saw Ashley. 

“I am, I’ll see you later.” she said as she walked to the ladder. 

“Don’t forget to see how your team is doing,” called the crew chief over his shoulder.

Ashley woke up in Alexander’s bed a few hours later. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was. When she saw the flickering from the television under the door, she jumped out of bed and opened the door to find Alexander laying on the couch watching the television. 

Alexander heard the bedroom door open and turned to see Ashley standing in the doorway. 

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” he asked in a kind manner. 

“No, I’m sorry I took your bed,” she replied. 

"Don’t be sorry,” said Alexander as he swung his feet over the side of the couch and sat up. 

“I would have felt bad if you slept on the couch,” he added as if he always had female teammates sleeping in his bed. 

“I take it that everything’s done?” she asked. 

“Yep.” said Alexander as he got up off the couch, which made Ashley’s knees feel weak. 

“Where are you going to be starting?” she asked while pushing the thought of wanting to see Alexander naked out of her mind. 

“I’ll be starting sixth; Bernie and your team will be starting tenth.” replied Alexander who was also trying to get rid of the thought of wanting to see Ashley naked as well as what she would look like with an extra twenty pounds. 

“It’s not my team,” Ashley said as Alexander approached her. 

“Not THIS week, but it’s your team,” he replied. 

“Well I’m going to go to the hotel,” Ashley said, worrying that she otherwise might not be able to control what she might do. 

“If you leave now that will have people talking,” said Alexander as he stepped close enough that Ashley could smell his fresh scent. 

“Wouldn’t people talk if they found out that I left practice and came here?” she asked as she felt her knees getting weaker. 

“Yeah, but it’s easier to say that you rested here then left, then it is to say nothing happened between us if you leave now,” Alexander replied. 

“And why is that?” Ashley asked. 

“Because practice ended, hours ago and I have been here for three hours. If you were a reporter or another driver, wouldn’t you think that something was going on between us?" he asked. 

After a few minutes of looking at each other, Ashley could resist no further. She decided to test the water a little. She drew a shaky breath which made her smell more of his sweet scent. She leaned forward and kissed Alexander on the lips. 

“OK, said Alex. “I’m ordering us some pizza, there’s beer in the fridge if you want &#8211; what toppings do you like?”

----------

“Good afternoon gentleman” started race director Steve Murphy, “let me congratulate you all for winning a Bud pole in 2007. As you all know, due to the pole award being sponsored by a different company this is the last year you can get into the Shootout by winning the pole.” 

Mr. Murphy looked around at the faces in the tent. 

“I see some new face,s” he said. 

There were new faces, but they weren’t all rookies like Ashley. One of the new faces was Raul Ruiz. He is from Brazil and an ex- open wheeler, who drove for Flip Canassi Racing, who also owned Raul’s open wheel team. The other was Wolfgang Hertenstein who was also a former open wheel driver who was from Germany, as well as his team. Wolfgang drove for Klemperer-Banner Racing, who would be sponsoring him and one other car with there products. They were Banner Beer and Klemperer Wine, both are very popular in Germany. Both Raul and Wolfgang were pretty good in a cup car, and both had to do better this year to show that they belonged.

Besides Alexander, Bernie, and the previously mentioned drivers the other competitors in the shootout were Stephen Davis from Buchanan Motorsports, Joe Taylor and his teammate James Kavanaugh from Jefferson Racing, Lucas Doyle and his teammate Joe Toye from Sullivan Racing, Ralph Davis and his teammate Christopher Washington from Jennings Racing, as well as Matthew White who got in because he had won the shootout years ago. 

“The format is simple” continued the race director. “You race for twenty laps, the there will be a ten minute intermission, where you will all be brought down pit road, and your teams can make minor changes. then you will be brought back out and race for Fifty more laps, and you will have to make a pit stop. There are no exceptions” he added. 

After another glance around the tent to make sure everyone was listening, he then continued on with what he had to say.

“I want you all to keep a cool head out there tonight. If you are a lap down or busted up, you have to leave the guys who have a chance to win alone; that means either pulling over when they pass or end your night. If you do not follow these rules you will be Black Flagged and held for two laps,” he added in his southern draw that was similar to Matthew’s. 

“Y’all earned the right to be here, don’t blow it just because you want to win. You new guys, you watch what the veterans do and don’t mess with them, and they’ll respect you. Do I make myself clear?” he said. 

“Yes” replied everyone in the tent in unison. 

After a small prayer service the drivers exited the meeting. Alexander looked up and saw Ashley standing near a batch of tires that was most likely going to be used the next week. He noted with a smile to himself that she had another bag from the donut shop with her.

_“Keep snacking, beautiful, &#8211; its going to look great on you,” _he thought.


“Now what do you do?” she asked as he approached and she hoped that her legs wouldn’t give out on her. 

“Driver's Intro,” he said as if he wanted to do something else. 

“Can I go with you?” she asked. 

“No, I think you’d learn more if you stay with Mark,” he said as if he didn’t want her with him. 

“OK.” she replied trying to hide her disappointment. 

"Hey Mac" Alexander called over his shoulder to his crew chief, “take Ashley and show her what you and the crew do before a race.”

“OK Alex.” called the crew chief as Alexander started walking away. 

Ashley couldn’t stop thinking that maybe Alexander was mad about what happeneed the night before. Soon driver Intros had started. By now she was standing in the team's pit stall, where the crew, like other crews on pit road, were setting up for the lone pit stop in the last segment of the race.

She was looking at a stage that was set up in the tri-oval and listen to a voice calling out the names of the drivers, their sponsors, as well as their starting positions. “starting in the sixth position”, the voice started calling out, “driver of the number Twenty Five Waste Management, McDonalds Chevrolet. Alexander Hawkins”. 

Ashley tried to picture Alexander walking across the stage with his handsome smile and waving to the crowd, who seamed to give him a louder ovation then any of the drivers before him. 

“You wondering what it will be like when you walk across that stage next week,” asked Mark as he walked up to Ashley. 

“Nope, just taking in the sights,” she said with a smile. 

As Alexander road around the track in the back of a pickup, waving to all the fans, he was of course thinking. Not about the race that evening but of his teammate, and not in the way he should be. As the pickup pulled onto pit road and came to a stop, he wasn’t sure what he felt for her. As he got off the truck and started to walk to his team, he tried to figure out what drew him to her. Ever since he was sixteen he was attracted to girls with a few extra pounds and all his girlfriends had showed that, it was the only thing they had in common, but Ashley wasn’t that way. She didn’t have a ounce of extra weight anywhere on her. So he asked himself again, why was he attracted to her.

“Hey captain,” said the crew chief when he saw his driver approach which made Ashley look up. 

“I’m not the captain, you are Mac,” Alexander replied as his and Ashley’s eyes met. They looked into each others eyes for a few seconds then Alexander looked away because of what he saw in her eyes. 

About half an hour later Alexander was strapped into his race car and waiting for the command to start the engine. 

“Alexander,” called out his crew chief over the radio, “Mr. Wilson wants me to tell you that Bernie wants to try and win this on his own”. 

“Does that mean that he won’t help me?” asked Alexander. 

“I have no idea, but I’ll ask.” his crew chief replied. 

A second later Mark came back over the radio and said “light that fire.” 

That meant that it was time to start the engine, so Alexander flipped the ignition switch and the car’s engine roared to life. 

(Continued in post 13 of this thread)


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 1, 2008)

Funny thing, about two years ago I started writing a Nascar-fic like this. Got pretty far in it then lost my desire in it and moved to something else. Now, it's kinda outdated so i'll probably start from scratch if I feel the urge again.

It's looking really good and thorough so far, keep it up. And if anyone needs any explanations about stuff, if the TC isn't around, i'm fluent.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 1, 2008)

*The Shootout (continued)*

The pace car led the thirteen cars off pit road to start the pace laps. 

“Remember to check the tachometer for the pit speed,” said the crew chief. 

“Ten-four Mac,” replied Alexander as he glanced at the tachometer to the left of the steering wheel, next to the ignition switch. 

“You have it?” the crew chief asked a few seconds later as the cars passed the start finish line. 

“Yeah, I have it,” said Alexander, 

“Good remember it, then we’ll see if it’s the same for the second segment,” called the crew chief. 

“Why?” asked Alexander. 

“To make sure the tachometer is working right,” replied his crew chief.

“Ten-four Mac,” replied Alexander.

After another lap or two the spotter Andy Kyle radioed “We’re going green this time.” 

As the cars entered the backstretch the pace car lights went off. As the field bunched up, Alexander looked out the front window to make sure he was leaving enough room between his car and Matthew White’s number Forty Four Dodge, then he glanced to check the room between him and Stephen Davis’s Zero Nine Ford. 

Entering turns three and four, he glanced to his left make sure he was lined up with Wolfgang Hertenstein’s Ninety Toyota. Exiting turn four the spotter keyed the radio and started to count backwards “Five, Four, Three, Two.” 

Then the green flag was displayed and he yelled “Green, Green, Green!”.

When Alexander heard those words he pressed the gas pedal with all the might he had.

“It takes a lap and a half to a whole lap to get up to speed here and at Talladega,” Alexander’s crew chief said to Ashley as they watched the field take the green flag from atop the pit box. They watched as the cars picked up speed and drove towards turns one and two. 

“So the real racing doesn’t get started until after the first lap is completed?” said Ashley. 

“That’s about right,” replied Mark the crew chief as he reached for the talk button on his headset.

“Hey Alexander, I think you should fall back and feel the car out for the first twenty laps.” Mark Stevens said over the radio. 

“Ten-four,” Alexander replied when they entered into turns three and four. 

As they raced back through the tri-oval everyone was still as they were when they started. It wasn’t until they entered turns one and two that some drivers tried to advance their position. As Alexander got up on the 31 degree of banking in turn one, his spotter came over the radio and said “Outside, outside, you have a car on the outside”. 

Alexander glanced up at his rear view mirror and saw Stephen Davis and Bernie moving out of line and trying to pass him on his right. But, as they exited the turns, Stephen and Bernie tapped the wall which causing them to slow. Christopher Washington the driver of the number Seventy Five Ford, couldn’t slow down in time and crashed into the back of Bernie’s car. Bernie’s car then went left and got tagged by the number Fifty One KB Toys Toyota, driven by Lance Jones. Jones’s car continued on it’s way, but Bernie’s spun into the grass.

“Yellow’s out. Slow down” Alexander heard his spotter say.. As the field slowed down to about 65 mph, Alexander hit the talk button on his steering wheel for his radio. 

“Who spun?” he asked. 

“Bernie got hit from behind by the Seventy Five” replied Mark.

“How bad?” Alexander then asked. 

“Back end is totally busted, I don’t think they are coming back.” replied the crew chief. 

“I guess it’s a good thing that Mr. Wilson asked if Ashley could learn with us then,” said Alexander.

It took two laps to clean up the debris and remove Bernie’s car from the track. All the teams except for Lance Jones and Christopher Washington’s, who were still on pit road, were ready for the restart.

As they came down for the green, Alexander hoped that none of the drivers ahead of him would lay back because that may cause a bigger wreck then the one that brought out the first caution.

As the green flag fell again and the drivers started going, everything went off without a hitch.

By the end of the first segment Alexander had worked his way up to third right behind Wolfgang Hertenstein and Joe Taylor. However Alexander’s car wasn’t the same as it was when the race started. As the checkered flag fell on the first segment Mark and Alexander had agreed on a Wedge adjustment.

As the cars came to a stop on pit road for the ten minute intermission, the pit crews came out to the cars to make simple adjustments. Alexander’s came up to the car to complete the wedge adjustment.

“You’ll be good with the wedge adjustment?” asked Mark through the window net. 

“Yeah, we can do an air pressure adjustment when we pit, and fix the wedge if need be,” replied Alexander.

When the second segment started Alexander fell back to sixth, but then worked his way back up to second behind Wolfgang Hertenstein.

On lap Twenty Three, the Sixty Six car of James Toye crashed into the Forty Seven car of James Kavanaugh as they entered the backstretch, almost the same way Bernie had wrecked earlier that evening. They also collected the Zero Nine of Stephen Davis and James Toye’s teammate Lucas Doyle.

As the cars lined up behind the pace car, Alexander’s crew chief came over the radio and asked how his gauges were doing. Alexander glanced at the gauges on the dashboard behind the steering wheel.

“Oil Pressure is good, Water Temp is a little high, Oil Temp is a little high as well, Voltage and Fuel Pressure are good. I think we should put a can of fuel in when we stop” said Alexander. 

“Ten-four. So four tires and a can of fuel when we stop?” confirmed the crew chief. 

“Sounds good for now,” replied Alexander.

They pitted on lap Thirty which was about halfway through the second segment, like they planned. What they hadn’t planned on was Raul Ruiz, Joe Taylor, and Ralph Davis pitting with them. When Alexander got back on the track he was in third, he inherited the lead two laps later when Wolfgang who was in the lead pitted.

Alexander held onto the lead despite two attempts from Raul to take it. Raul wasn’t Alexander’s biggest threat; that was Matthew White. Matthew, who was in the back of the pack after his pit stop, then raced his way to second. And with five laps to go, he was leading the assault on Alexander and the lead.

On the last lap Matthew seemed to have the lead, but as they entered turns three and four Alexander got a push from his drafting partner and retook the lead. As they came towards the checkered flag they were nose and nose, but as they crossed the line Alexander was in front and the winner. 

“Way to go Alexander, you’re the man,” called out the crew chief. 

“No you’re the man Mac,” Alexander yelled back into the radio. 

“Don’t go to crazy in your burnout, I want to use that car for the Five Hundred” replied the crew chief.

Alexander pulled his car into Victory Lane after he did his victory lap. After he pulled in and dropped his window net and he was passed something to drink, he just sat there and thought about what just happened.

He then pulled himself out of the car, looked around at his team standing together on a small stage with Sprint Cup hats on, all smiling and laughing then he caught sight of Ashley off to the side but with a smile on her face. As he walked to his crew Alexander knew just how long this night was going to be.

After putting on what seemed like a million hats for a million different sponsors, Alexander and his crew chief were ushered away to another area of the track for media and some more track relation commitments that the winner had to do. That left Ashley in the hands of the crew, who had accepted her as one of them. The crew put the car in the hauler and, after seeing it off, had a little party before heading back to the shop in North Carolina.

It was well after eleven, and all the haulers, motor coaches, drivers, and crews were gone. Well all but one, Alexander’s motor coach still sat in it’s spot. A dark car turned into the driver’s motor home lot and pulled within feet of Alexander’s motor coach. The backdoor open to reveal a tired looking Alexander exiting. 

“I’ll see you at the airport in a few?” asked his crew chief, who was going to take the car to his hotel. 

“Yeah” replied Alexander. After Alexander closed the car door the driver started to back up. Alexander rubbed his hands over his eyes and then walked to his motor coach.

As Alexander got closer to his motor coach, he saw Ashley sitting next to the door with a beer can in her hand. 

“I thought you left without letting me congratulate you,” she said a little drunkenly. 

“Have you been waiting here long?” Alexander asked, already knowing that the answer was probably yes. 

Ashley looked up at him as he grabbed the door handle, with a look that said &#8216;what do you think?’ 

Ashley got up staggeringly which caused Alexander to grab ahold of her.

“Do you want to come in?” Alexander asked sweetly with a smirk. 

“What do you think?” Ashley said without looking at Alexander. 

He opened the door and let Ashley enter first so that he could catch her if she were to stumble. Alexander flipped the light switch which lit the motor coach which had been dark just moments before. 

“Make yourself comfortable” Alexander said as he started to slide out of the top of his fire suit. Ashley turned and stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips.

Alexander wouldn’t have kissed Ashley back without her knowing his feelings for her, except he was still on a high from winning that he wasn’t thinking. So after Ashley kissed him, he kissed her back. Over the next several seconds they traded hot sexy kisses, which lead to Ashley pulling off Alexander’s sweat drenched undershirt and his fire suit falling to the floor. Then they found themselves in Alexander’s bed. That night was the best in either of their lives.

(Continued in post 38 of this thread)


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 1, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> Funny thing, about two years ago I started writing a Nascar-fic like this. Got pretty far in it then lost my desire in it and moved to something else. Now, it's kinda outdated so i'll probably start from scratch if I feel the urge again.
> 
> It's looking really good and thorough so far, keep it up. And if anyone needs any explanations about stuff, if the TC isn't around, i'm fluent.



i haven't seen ur story. but since u say u wrote it two years ago, i wouldn't say it's outdated. there hasn't been any big changes in the sport except that the cars they race now looks almost like a box, and is surpose to be super safe. and the title sponsors have changed from Nextel to Sprint.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 2, 2008)

I never got around to posting it, and I was using the real drivers. It's been 2 years since I started it and so many of them have moved around and Gibbs went to Toyota. So it looks really outdated and whatnot, i'll eventually start over on it with original people like you chose to do.


----------



## samster (Oct 2, 2008)

Just read this and think NASCAR is a great topic! I'm an Englishman but am a long time NASCAR fan and have even worked in the sport so I can 100% say its a good topic area. Obviously female drivers are rare (hasn't been one in Cup for a few years I think?) but the tracks are swarming with chubby chicks! 

I've thought about a NASCAR story with three basic WG ideas:

1. A drivers wife. When she arrives she's the standard NASCAR wife but all the travel leads to her snacking and filling out some. She was going to be the vain, stuck up type who struggles to come to terms with her extra curves. 
2 A driver similar to your Ashley. My idea was to have her arrive from IndyCar and be tiny - but over her time in NASCAR she takes advantage of the larger cars and fills out some.
3. Hot corporate employee is assigned to working with a Cup team in regard to the sponsorship. She's already a little curvy but starts to gain over the year.

Anyways, my rambling shouldn't detract from the great story idea and can't wait for more!

Samster


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 2, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> I never got around to posting it, and I was using the real drivers. It's been 2 years since I started it and so many of them have moved around and Gibbs went to Toyota. So it looks really outdated and whatnot, i'll eventually start over on it with original people like you chose to do.



yeah it would be hard to change it, with the changes that have been made, but not impossible. u could also write about the changes in ur story, like weather or not the should do it. but that depends on what doint of view u decided to write from, (ex: driver, crew cheif, owner, sponsor). i actully think Gibbs as well as Treasa Earnhardt aren't really good team owners anymore.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 2, 2008)

samster said:


> Just read this and think NASCAR is a great topic! I'm an Englishman but am a long time NASCAR fan and have even worked in the sport so I can 100% say its a good topic area. Obviously female drivers are rare (hasn't been one in Cup for a few years I think?) but the tracks are swarming with chubby chicks!
> 
> I've thought about a NASCAR story with three basic WG ideas:
> 
> ...



you have some good idea's, i never would have come up with them (partly because i don't like open wheel cars, but that has nothing to do with this post). i would hope u would at least try and write one, because i would like to see how your story goes. 

yeah, the last female Cup driver was Shawna Robinson, she hasn't driven for at least four to five years. in 2006 there was a female driver named Erin Crocker that drove in what is now known as the Nationwide series, she was surpose to come up to Cup but the whole lack of sponser thing, and the fact that she was dating the owner of her team kinda soured that.


----------



## samster (Oct 3, 2008)

If I also recall with Erin Croker her results were somewhat below par - she had really good equipment and didn't deliver.

Personally I agree on OW racing - not my thing but I think a Danica Patrick style character works as a WG character. Tiny for the open wheel cars but taking advantage of the wider seat of a stock car.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 3, 2008)

Well, there's a female currently in Nascar's Craftsman truck series. Chrissy Wallace (Rusty Wallace's daughter), apparently she's pretty good and she's not exactly thin either. I think she's 17 or so at the moment.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 3, 2008)

samster said:


> If I also recall with Erin Croker her results were somewhat below par - she had really good equipment and didn't deliver.
> 
> Personally I agree on OW racing - not my thing but I think a Danica Patrick style character works as a WG character. Tiny for the open wheel cars but taking advantage of the wider seat of a stock car.



she didn't do well in the Nationwide series, but she was good in the ARCA series.

yeah but Indy is totally diff from Nascar. there was a topic about it on another site. in Indy when they weigh the car they also add the drivers weight (or so i've been told), where as in Nascar the cars weight 3,400 pounds no matter what. they don't add the drivers weight when they are weighing the cars. and idk about Indycar seating, but in Nascar the seats they use are made to fit them, so not every seat is bulit the same.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 3, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> Well, there's a female currently in Nascar's Craftsman truck series. Chrissy Wallace (Rusty Wallace's daughter), apparently she's pretty good and she's not exactly thin either. I think she's 17 or so at the moment.



Chrissy is Mike Wallace's daughter not Rusty's and she is 18, can't race in Nascar unless u are 18. Mike is one of Rusty's younger Brothers. Rusty as far as i know doesn't have any daughters, he has two sons, on of which runs for him in the nationwide seires. but Chrissy has only done three races, thats y she didn't come to mind right away. but thanks for reminding me.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 4, 2008)

Ah, gotcha. I wasn't sure if she was Rusty's daughter or Mike's daughter, but yeah. Nationwide driver, Steven Wallace, is Rusty's son. Rumor has it that he might get the #2 car in the near future.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 4, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> Ah, gotcha. I wasn't sure if she was Rusty's daughter or Mike's daughter, but yeah. Nationwide driver, Steven Wallace, is Rusty's son. Rumor has it that he might get the #2 car in the near future.



thats news to me about steven possible going to the #2, 

Rusty does have a daughter, her name is Katie, so all three Wallace brothers have daughters. i don't know if Mike has any sons. i olny know that Kenny has all girls and Rusty has two sons and a daughter.


----------



## Lardibutts (Oct 4, 2008)

> i don't like open wheel cars





> Personally I agree on OW racing - not my thing


Is this a personal aesthetic/spectacle thing or a technical car control issue?
One of my earliest memories is Fangio in a Benz W196 streamliner bashing all the Oil Barrels (!) at Silverstone cos he couldnt see precisely where his front wheels were on the corners. For my money he must have been the hardest stock racer ever eg. winning the 1940 10,000 kilometers trans Andean Gran Premio del Norte in a V8 Ford sedan.,

If it is about spectacle then nothing beats bikes. 
The scariest racing action Ive ever seen are the TT races on the narrow Isle of Man roads  especially the maniacs on sidecars inches from stone walls. What about a Fat Girl on a Harley Fat Boy story? Heres one of my favourite pin ups - wish I knew who she is.


----------



## samster (Oct 4, 2008)

Speaking of Chrissie Wallace check this link out:

http://www.curvage.com/forum/index.php?topic=18624.0

Lardibutts; personally I'm not a fan of American OW racing on ovals. I think the stock cars work much better there. That said F1 cars are quite the spectacle but I agree the bikes are amazing. Quite terrifying to watch actually!


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 4, 2008)

Hey, you beat me to it. I was just about to come here and point out that topic. I meant to do it yesterday when I made it, but I was pressed for time.

I agree though, i'm not an open wheel fan. I prefer Nascar simply because it was the first style of racing that I started watching. I just prefer it over the others, but I Do watch others alot.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 4, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> Hey, you beat me to it. I was just about to come here and point out that topic. I meant to do it yesterday when I made it, but I was pressed for time.
> 
> I agree though, i'm not an open wheel fan. I prefer Nascar simply because it was the first style of racing that I started watching. I just prefer it over the others, but I Do watch others alot.



i hate open wheel partly because of the same reason as u but the other is well i can't really pinpoint it. i would guess its because Nascar fans or drivers sometimes get called 'Rednecks', but u never hear open wheel fans being called anything.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 4, 2008)

i was wrong Chrissy Wallace is 20 years old.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 5, 2008)

Yeah, Nascar fans get stereotyped before you can say "Gentleman, Start Your Engines".

Funny thing is, I don't resemble the stereotype in any way at all.

The only way I would see Chrissie getting sponsored is because of her last name, sponsors are getting hard to come by even for good male racers.


----------



## samster (Oct 5, 2008)

Speaking as an Englishman who travells to NASCAR races I can say NASCAR fans are the most friendly group of sports fans I've ever encountered. They do have this "redneck" image but I've always found even the most Southern fans at places like Bristol and Martinsville really friendly.

As for American OW fans - I don't think there's enough of them around to judge their character

I remember watching an IndyCar race at New Hampshire many years back and there was a 70,000 grandstand with about 5,000 fans in attendance so I never really got to mix. That said I would love to go to the Indy 500 if ever I got a chance.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 5, 2008)

nascar drivers and fans are the most friendly and helpful. 

back when Ned Jarret (Dale Jarret's father) got into racing, be brought a car that he couldn't afford, but it was a winning car. so he had to win two races one on a saturday and one on a sunday to pay the guy who owned the car off. (the guy didn't know that Ned didn't have the money at the time). well Ned won the saturday race, but in the course of the race hurt his hands because someone had altered the steering wheel. weel Ned started the sunday race but couldn't finish because his hands hurt to much, so before came in to get out of the car, his team asked Junior Johnson (who one races in that car) who's engine blew up earlier in the race, to drive the rest of the race for Ned. Junior of course said yes. Junior didn't even asked to be payed for what he did. even though Ned told him to take $100 dollars.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 14, 2008)

i just thought i'd give some more terms that i'd be using in my next installment that should be coming in about a day or two.

COT(Car Of Tomorrow)- a new. safer car that Nascar created after the accidents that killed Adam Petty (2000), Kenny Irwin (2000), Nascar great Dale Earnhardt(2001), and that nearly killed Jerry Nadeau (2003)

Pass Through Penalty- is where a car has to pass though pit road at pit road speed, with out stopping

Conmmitment Cone- is a orange cone at the end of pit road that shows the drivers where pit road starts.

Yellow Line Rule- is a rule that is only used at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedways, marks where the racing surface ends.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 18, 2008)

Mac5689 said:


> i just thought i'd give some more terms that i'd be using in my next installment that should be coming in about a day or two.
> 
> COT(Car Of Tomorrow)- a new. safer car that Nascar created after the accidents that killed Adam Petty (2000), Kenny Irwin (2000), Nascar great Dale Earnhardt(2001), and that nearly killed Jerry Nadeau (2003)
> 
> ...




Chase for the Sprint Cup- is Nascars version of a playoff system, in the last 10 races the top 12 drivers (from 2004-07 it was the top 10) fight for the Championship. this is done by sperating them by 5 points at after the cut off race at Richmond in September.


i also should mention that i make an Cameo apperance as a Car Owner and driver that had been injuried two years before. 

if u want to make a Cameo apperince in my story, PM me ur name (doesn't have to me ur full name. first name will do, or a nick name that u are called, or last name. or u can have me make up a name for u.) and what u want to do. new driver that gets a ride due to driver losing their ride or injury. Owner of a brand new team that starts in the middle of the season. Crew Member on either Alexander's or Ashley's team. or some other team. Owner of a comapny that wants to sponser a car, or anything else that u may think of that deals with racing.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 19, 2008)

Just thought i'd correct you on the Chase For The Cup settings. It used to be seperate by 5 points each depending on where they are at the end of Richmond. Now they're set by 10 bonus points per win to put more emphasis on winning. I'm pretty sure you knew and just forgot to put, I just thought i'd stick this in just in case though.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 20, 2008)

DownSouthBellyLover said:


> Just thought i'd correct you on the Chase For The Cup settings. It used to be seperate by 5 points each depending on where they are at the end of Richmond. Now they're set by 10 bonus points per win to put more emphasis on winning. I'm pretty sure you knew and just forgot to put, I just thought i'd stick this in just in case though.



yeah well i'm not a big fan of that so i'm keeping it the old way. much easier to remember.


----------



## DownSouthBellyLover (Oct 21, 2008)

Ah, ok. No problem.


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 27, 2008)

*Chapter Three: Daytona 500*

Alexander and Ashley hadn’t seen each other during the week leading up to qualifying for the Daytona 500 because of sponsor commitments. The next time they saw each other their cars were on the qualifying line.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unlike qualifying at any other race track. Sure they went around one at a time for two laps, but then on the Thursday before the 500 they hold two 150 mile races that actually lock drivers into the 500 field. But since the top 35 from the previous seasons points were already locked into the field no matter where they finished in their 150 mile race, the races actually locked drivers into positions 36 to 43; the only positions that were set by normal qualifying were the front row. Alexander and Ashley were both luckily in the top 35.

Qualifying didn’t go the way either Alexander or Ashley would have liked. Alexander’s car was just like it was before the shootout, loose. It caused him to qualify 25th, it wasn’t that bad and he knew that the car would get better by the 500. Ashley didn’t fare any better, she ended up qualifying 29th. That meant that both Alexander and Ashley would be in the same 150 Mile Race, which was both a good and bad thing. Christopher Washington in the 75 car and Joe Taylor in the 32 car were on the front row.

After qualifying Alexander was sitting on a stack of tires outside his garage stall when Mel Stuart, another veteran who had been racing a long time, but not as long as Bernie or Matthew, came walking up to Alexander with his new teammate Dan Crittenden. Crittenden came from England and had very little racing experience. Sure he raced in Formula One, Indy Car, and Champ Car, however he didn’t like it much. So when Flip Canassi offered him a ride in one of his Cup cars, Crittenden jumped at the idea. 

“Hey Alexander” said Mel as he and Crittenden, who were still in their fire suits.

“Hey Mel, how’s Wayne?” replied Alexander.

Wayne was Mel’s son, who was basically born at the race track. During the 1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Wayne’s mother who was back in the family’s motor home, went into labor. When Mel was told that his wife went into labor, he pulled his car onto pit road and got out of his car to be with his wife. Luckily for Mel’s team Bernie Chandler, who had an blown engine a few laps before, was still around and was able to jump into the car. Alexander knew that race well because it was the first race he ever watched on television, it was that race that got him interested in NASCAR racing. 

“Like all young drivers, can’t wait to get into the car and drive,” said Mel.

“I remember when I was like that,” replied Alexander with a chuckle.

“Anyway,” Mel started while gesturing to Crittenden, “I would like you to meet Dan Crittenden. He is Canassi’s newest driver.” 

“hi Dan, where are you from?”

“London, England,” Crittenden said with a thick accent.

“Ah, another open wheeler.”

“Actually” stated Mel, “he doesn’t like the open wheel cars”

“Wow” said Alexander, who was actually surprised, “You don’t like open wheel?”

“That’s right mate”

As the conversation turned to how Crittenden was adjusting to stock cars and why he didn’t like open wheel, Alexander spotted Ashley leaving her garage stall out of the corner of his eye. His thoughts then turned to wanting to see her naked again, and to wondering why he loved her even through she wasn’t his type.

“Are you alright Alexander?” Mel asked when he and Crittenden noticed that Alexander wasn’t really paying attention.

Alexander was startled and almost fell off the stack of tires he was sitting on.

“Yeah, sorry, what were you saying?”

“We have to go, Flip wants to have a big team meeting with all three teams.”

As Mel and Crittenden left, Alexander’s thoughts again turned to his teammate and again knew they were in a way that one should not be thinking of a teammate.

************

Alexander woke up the day of the 150 mile qualifying race anything but cool, calm, and collective. The reason was that during the night he had a dream that ended with Ashley and him getting married.

Normally on a race day Alexander didn’t go into the garage until 9 or ten o’clock, but because of his rough night he decided to go in early. As he left his motor home and walked to the garage as it was just opening up. As Alexander entered the garage he was stopped by Mark Strong, the owner of Mac Racing. 

Mark was a racer who hadn’t raced in the Cup Series in two years because of an accident during the fall race at Talladega. His car had gotten bumped by then rookie Xavier Lawrence, Mark’s car spun then barrel rolled down most of the backstretch. Mark had suffered a broken foot and a separated shoulder, and lost his ride to a young gun named Russ Stanley, a driver Alexander hated. 

While he was out of racing he started Mac Racing so that his brother, and sister could show their talent, but only his brother was good enough to race in the Cup Series right now. When Mark was cleared last year to race, he only raced in the Nationwide Series in the car that his sister currently drives. 

Mark wanted Alexander to give advice to his younger brother Joe, seeing that Joe was a rookie and both brothers respected Alexander a lot. On the other end of the drivers motor home lot, Ashley had a bad nights sleep as well. Not only was it her first week in her own motor home, but Alexander always seemed to be in her dreams. After spending several minutes deciding on a way to get her teammate out of her mind, she decided she should go to the garage. 

“What’s the matter?” said Alexander’s crew chief as his driver entered their garage stall.

“Why do you ask that?” Alexander replied as he stood next to his crew chief, who was looking at a checklist of what needed to be done.

“Because you’re here early,” a smirk came across the crew chief’s face.

“What, can’t I come help my team?”

“Yeah, but most of the crew hasn’t come in yet” his crew chief replied as he held the checklist up and the smirk disappeared from his face.

The crew chief squinted at his clipboard. “Hey can you find Jay Mac for me, I can’t read what he wrote”

“Sure,” Alexander then turned and left the garage stall.

Jay Mac was the nickname for Alexander’s car chief Jethro McDuffie. McDuffie got his nickname because both he and the crew chief were both called &#8216;Mac’, so no one would confuse the two, the crew started calling him Jay Mac.

As Alexander was walking around the garage trying to find his car chief, he kept getting distracted by crew members from his and other teams calling out hellos to him. As a result he walked into someone.

“I’m sorry” said Alexander as he looked up to see who he walked into, and saw Ashley standing there, a little frosting from a donut still on her lips. 

Alex noted that there was a empty bag from Dunkin Duts off to the side and ffantasized that her cheeks might be a bit fuller. 

_"Those donuts are getting to become a habit," _he said to himself. _"Keep it up!"_

“I know you are, good morning,” a smile came across Ashley’s face.

“Good morning.”

This was something neither Ashley or Alexander wanted to happen. As they looked each other in the eye, an intense feeling built inside them that they were afraid they may not control. 

“I have to find my car chief,” Alexander said hoping she’d let him go.

“Can I help?”

Alexander knew he should say no, but he couldn’t say no to Ashley. So they walked to the entrance that the crews use to enter the garage.

When Jay Mac finally showed and was told that the crew chief wanted him, he took off running to the team's garage stall.

After watching Jay Mac runoff, Alexander asked Ashley if she wanted to go back to his motor coach for coffee, which he knew was probably a mistake. As they walked to Alexander’s motor home they talked about strategy and promised to draft with each other when they could. 

As Alexander was opening the door to his motor home Ashley grabbed him, spun him around, and up against the motor coach and kissed him. What Alexander and Ashley didn’t know was that on one of the haulers there was a man who was taking pictures of them.

Alexander was all strapped into his number 25 McDonalds Chevy, waiting for the command to start the cars engine. His engine on the other hand was already turned on by kissing Ashley.

Alexander glanced at his rearview mirror and thought he saw Ashley wave to him, so he waved as best he could back. He then thought he saw her blow a kiss, so to be nice he stuck his hand out so it looked like he caught it. His crew chief then came over the radio and said “light that fire”.

“Don’t push it out there Alex, the race we want is the 500,” Alexander his crew chief say as the field for the first dual 150 entered the backstretch on the last pace lap.

He pressed the talk button and replied, “Yeah I know”

On lap six Alexander and Ashley were still working together when as they entered the backstretch a second line formed and was pushing its way to the front. When the line was close enough to Alexander and Ashley, they both dumped the group they were in and jumped into the lead of the second group.

Two laps later Alexander was being shown as the leader and Ashley second. On the very next lap the outside line came charging back and it looked like they may lose the lead.

Alexander held the lead but lost his teammate because her car couldn’t stay up front, then on lap 33 the yellow came out. Mel Stuart’s car started to have a vibration on lap 20 and it got worse and worse as the race went on and they couldn’t tell what was wrong. Then on lap 33 his car veered towards the wall crashing into the front end of the Zero- Two of Steve Brooks. Mike Adams in the Zero-Six slammed into the back of Brooks car. Seth Cutter in the Kincaid Racing number 64, pile drove into the side of Mel’s car, destroying the back of the car.

On the restart Alexander made the mistake of hanging back too much and caused rookie Brain Douglas to hit the back of Lance McKenzie’s 54 Toyota sending him spinning into the grass and bringing out the yellow again.

“Is there something wrong?” his crew chief asked with concern.

“Yeah everything’s fine”, he replied but that wasn’t exactly true. He was thinking about Ashley and what he didn’t know was that she was thinking about him.

When they restarted again, Alexander didn’t lay back, to everyone’s relief. Alexander dominated the rest of the race, which led people to say that he would be the favorite to win the 500. The thing was that whoever won either of the duel races didn’t always finish in the top ten in the 500.

Alexander was now going to be starting third instead of 25th and Ashley would be starting 13th instead of 29th. Almost two hours later the field was set for the Daytona 500.

After the race and the debrief with the team Ashley was back in her motor coach laid up on her couch watching the second duel race on the television with a couple of McDonalds Big Macs and large fries plus a tall Coors beer. She soon found herself thinking about Alexander. She knew from overhearing Samantha Bailey, Alexander’s public relations person that he had a sponsorship thing along with some other small things after the race.

As she thought about where Alexander may have been at that moment, it occurred to her that she knew nothing about her teammate and the man she was finding herself in love with even though they made love together after the Shootout almost a week earlier. So she got up and went to the table that she used to eat her meals, where her laptop currently was. The laptop was a graduation present from her mom and dad, they didn’t approve of her racing and wanted her to go to college and do something that got her respect. 

Ashley had gone to college, but dropped out half way through her first year because she couldn’t think about anything but racing. And with the help of her grandfather who use to be a great Cup driver and owner, that’s what she did. Her grandfather was the only one in her family that believed she could race, and that’s why it made Ashley sad to know that he wouldn’t be there to see her make her first Cup race.

As she sat at the table and waited for her laptop to turn on, she remembered how happy her grandpa was when she won her first race, her first pole, and how worried he was after her first wreck. When the laptop turned on she went to her internet connection and when it came up, she went to Google and typed in &#8216;Alexander Hawkins’.

She got almost a million hits back, she put her head in her palm and said to herself that it was going to be a long afternoon. Then by luck she came across his website. As she surfed Alexander’s site she learned that he was the oldest of three brothers, his brother Eleazer was a baseball player and his brother Jeremiah was trying to get his feet into racing. 

She also learned that he had a reputation for stubbornness, and he was often outspoken and opinionated with a quick temper that would explode if someone disagreed with his point of view, but somehow his crew chief could control him because they never seemed to fight. That is also the reason why Alexander had an ongoing feud with defending points champion Russ Stanley.

------------

“Don’t forget to get a good nights sleep, you have a busy day tomorrow” reminded Samantha Bailey, Alexander’s public relations person.

“I have nothing on Saturday right?” he asked dejectedly.

“Of course,” was the reply he got from Samantha as she closed her planner.
Samantha is 5’2” with dark brown hair that looked almost black, and was pleasantly plump at 160 pounds. Her weight was displaced more in her lower half with her thighs, hips, and butt having more then her belly.

The car they were riding in stopped at the end of the motor home lot. 

Samantha and Alexander both said goodnight to each other, then Alexander got out and entered the motor home lot as the car drove away.

Alexander looked up at Ashley’s motor home as he passed it. The lights were off which meant she was probably asleep. Since he was paying more attention to Ashley’s motor coach then where he was going, he accidentally walked into someone. Both Alexander and the person he walked into turned to see who the other was.

“Alexander.”

“Russ.” 

Both men uttered the other's name in disgust.

“You don’t have a chance to win Sunday,” Russ snarled after a momentary silence.

“I know what you want me to say Russ, and I remember what happened the last time I did that”

“And what was that?”

“We got into a fight which almost got us both suspended,” Alexander grew aggravated.

A smirk grew across Russ’s face, then he said, “maybe I don’t have a chance either.”

Russ then turned and walked to his motor home. Alexander smirked as he shook his head then turned and continued the walk to his motor home.

Alexander didn’t like Russ because of his run-by-the-seat-of-your-pants attitude and how he used everyone as his scapegoat. That was why Alexander tried to stay away from Russ on and off the track.

When Alexander got back to his motor home he found a message from his brother Eleazer saying that he would drive over from Tampa on Sunday, and one from Jeremiah saying that he was coming on Saturday. There was nothing from his parents.

Alexander and Ashley both woke up early on race day, but neither knew the other was up.

After taking a quick shower Ashley decided to walk the track. She threw on a track suit, not noticing that it was fitting a bit more snugly than before, and headed out to the race track. At the same time Alexander exited his bedroom and was thinking that maybe a hot shower would take his mind off things, then he saw his brother Jeremiah sleeping peacefully on the couch. So he decided to take a walk around the track then grab a shower.

As she walked onto pit road Ashley was shocked at how big the grandstand seamed with no one sitting in it.

“Gives you Goosebumps doesn’t it.” 

Ashley jumped not because of who it was, but because she didn’t think anyone else was up.

“Yeah,” she started as she turned to face Alexander. “What are you doing up?”

“I can ask you the same thing.”

“I had trouble sleeping,” Ashley replied flirtatiously.

“Same, so what are you doing here?”

“I was going to take a walk around the track.”

“So was I.”

“Well then I can’t see why we can’t walk together.”

“Yeah.”

As they walked around the track they talked about their families, how they got into racing, and where they grew up. However they were unaware that they were being watched from the luxury boxes, but this was a different person then who was taking pictures of them on Thursday.

---------------

“Good morning and welcome to Daytona and the start of the 2008 Sprint Cup Series,” said NASCAR president Mick Hiketon.

Hiketon had been involved in the sport since 1980, when he was general manger at was then known as Atlanta International Raceway. He became the president of NASCAR in 2000 taken over from Bill France Jr., who was the son of NASCAR founder. Mick Hiketon was about 5’6”, 52 years old and weighed 190 pounds. He was born and raised in Bristol, Virginia. He also raced for a little while but no one knew if he drove in NASCAR, Mr. Hiketon now resides with his wife in Ormond Beach, Florida. 

“For those of you who don’t already know we’ve made some changes to the Shootout. Next years Shootout field will be made up of the top six drivers of every manufacturer. This is due to the pole award being sponsored by a new company” Hiketon then looked around at all the faces of the drivers and their crew chiefs at the drivers meeting before continuing.

“We've also expanded the field for the chase to the cup from ten to twelve cars. This is also the first season we are going to run the COT or Car Of Tomorrow for the whole season” again he took another pause to look around the room.

“Let this be the official warning for all you crew chiefs, if you mess in any way with the COT you will be caught and you will be suspended for up to six races and fined up to a thousand dollars. Now I’ll let race director Steve Murphy take over”

“Thank you Mr. Hiketon,” Mr. Murphy said as he approached the podium.

“Like Mr. Hiketon said, good morning and welcome to Daytona. This is the first race of the season, so you shouldn’t be racing out there like it’s the last. You can’t win the championship on the first race.

“We understand that for some of you guys, are with new teams or new in general, but its important that you get your pit road speed during the pace laps and get to it before you enter pit road under green. It is also important that when you enter pit road that you stay to the left of the commitment cone, if you enter the pits by passing on the right you will not be able to stop that time. If you hit the cone you will have to serve a pass through penalty after you pit.

“There will also be no rough driving, if you are caught you will have to serve a pass through penalty. If you don’t serve the penalty you will be black flagged and held for two laps. The final thing is the yellow line.

“If you pass below the yellow line to ADVANCE your position you will have to give the position back or face a penalty; however if you are trying to pass another driver and they force you below the yellow line then you won’t get into any trouble. With that said I wish you all luck today and be safe.”

After Mr. Murphy was done a minister walked to the podium to lead a prayer service. Even though Alexander hadn’t been to church in almost twenty years he still stayed for the prayer service, not because it was mandatory by NASCAR or at least not that he knew of, but because he had respect for the people who did God's work.

After the driver's meeting some of the drivers went back to their motor coaches or their teams haulers where they changed into their fire suits and gathered for driver introductions.

“Starting third in the number 25 McDonald’s Chevy Impala SS, Alexander Hawkins.” called out the man who was doing driver introductions over the roar of the crowd.

As Alexander reached the end of the stage and started walking down the steps to a waiting pickup, the introduction man yelled out “Starting fourth in the number zero eight Ford Fusion, Russ Stanley”

Alexander was already in the back of the pickup by the time Russ got to the end of the stairs and the Introduction man started calling out the driver starting fifth. Neither driver was happy about sharing the truck ride around the track together.

They weren’t aware that a T.V crew had climbed into the truck with them, because if they had they wouldn’t have said what they going to say.

“Alex,” said Russ coldly.

“Russ,” replied Alexander just as coldly as Russ climbed into the back of the pickup.

The T.V crew climbed in a few seconds later, and the camera man turned on the camera to start filming when Russ started talking.

“You better watch out when you're around me, because I won’t give you an inch.”

“You never give anyone an inch.”

“Your point?”

“Don’t get anywhere near me cuz I won’t give you an inch either.”

“Yeah, right, you give everyone an inch,” Russ said.

Neither man looked at each other as their pickup made its way slowly through turns one and two along the apron of the track.

Then all of a sudden a voice said “That’s what it seems to be.”

Russ and Alexander both turned around with shocked faces as they saw pit reporter Raymond Paxton and his camera man standing behind them.

Back at the stage Ashley was standing on the stairs behind the stage waiting for her name to be called. As she waited she put her hair into a pony tail hoping it would help calm her nervousness.

Then the voice called out “starting thirteenth in the number 36 Waste Management Chevy Impala SS, Ashley McDonald.”

Ashley stepped out onto the stage and walked to shake hands with the races Grand Marshal, the person who was going to wave the green flag to start the race, the person who was going to drive the pace car on the pace laps, and other invited guests. As she did she noticed that her ovation wasn’t as loud as the drivers that went before her.

That didn’t upset her, it made her want to prove that she could race that much greater. She was upset though, that she seamed to have no fans. As she reached the pickup that would drive her around the track, the Introduction man called out “starting fourteenth in the number 35 Gatorade Ford Fusion, Ralph Davis”

Ralph Davis was a eight year veteran with six wins. It wasn’t what some would say was great, but Ralph felt it was great. Ralph also didn’t treat rookies like the rest of the Cup drivers did, he treated them like they were veterans. 

“Hey" said Ralph after he climbed into the pickup and stuck out his hand which surprised Ashley.

“Hello, my name is Ashley McDonald,” Ashley replied as she shook Ralph’s hand. 

“Ralph Davis,” Ralph said with a grin and the pick up took off.

“You nervous about your first race?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry, in my first race I crashed coming out of turn four. Things like that happen but I survived."

“Rookie mistake?”

“No, my right front tire blew out.”

“Oh.”

“But that was caused by a rookie mistake”

“What do you mean?”

“I tried to be a hotshot and told my crew chief not to change my tires.”

“Oh,” said Ashley who couldn’t believe that a respected driver would have ever done something like that.

------------

After Alexander got back to pit road he went to meet up with his brothers at his car.

“Hey Alexander” called out his brother Eleazer as soon as he saw his older brother.

“How you doing Eleazer?” Alexander asked as he hugged Eleazer.

“I’m fine.”

“How is the team?”

“They’ll be watching and rooting for you.”

“And I’ll be watching and rooting for you guys too.”

As the field came out of three and four Alexander got as close to the pole sitters back bumper as he could. Then came the words he wanted to hear, “Green, Green, Green”.

***********

As Ashley made her way around the track under the pace laps, she couldn’t help but think about her grandfather and how proud he would have been of her at this very second. Even if she wasn’t driving for his team. She also wished that her mother and father were on hand to see her race but since they didn’t approve of her racing they had never attended any of her races. 

She actually hadn’t seen her parents since they gave her the laptop as her high school graduation present, because when she decided to race which was the very same day her parents gave her the laptop she went to live with her grandparents because her parents didn’t want her to live with them if she was going to race. Little did she know that her parents were actually at Daytona to watch her race.

*****************

Alexander gave Christopher Washington such a push that it gave them a two car length lead. As they entered the backstretch both Washington and Alexander pulled into the outside line.

They stayed that way until the inside line started charging to the front lead by Cecil Shepard in the Office Max Ford. As the group came up towards Alexander, his spotter came over the radio.

“Inside, inside, you have a group coming on the inside.”

As the group was close enough Alexander dipped back into the inside line and within a lap was listed as the leader. With that he also gained five bonus points for leading a lap.

Alexander led every lap so far except for the first four, then on lap 54, rookie driver Timothy Webster banged into the rear of teammate Joe Strong. This spun Joe back into traffic and Timothy slamming into the wall, collecting the number 56 of Martin Ross and the number 86 of Xavier Lawrence who crashed into the back of Ross’s car. The Zero-Nine of Stephen Davis hit the back of Webster’s car.

As cars slowed and went onto the apron to miss the stopped 96 car, all except the 89 of Hans Gruber. Gruber thought that it would be better not following the other drivers below the wreck, crashed into the 96 but continued on despite his radiator leaking.

While under caution Fritz Müller’s engine blew up which extended the caution because the blown engine leaked oil on the track.

On lap 125 they went back racing after yet another caution. The reason for this caution was that Matthew White’s engine blew. Alexander was fifth because he had pitted along with most of the field. 

After two laps, twelve cars started an inside line and flew to the front, as they were on the backstretch. Since the leader Christopher Washington didn’t pit under the caution the drivers in second and third, who also didn’t pit, thought that they could pass them. So as they entered turn three the number 39 of Denver O’Shea and the number 92 of Andrew Christopher went higher then Washington, creating a third line, as the inside group came up lead by Brian Douglas.

As they entered the middle of turns three and four, Douglas got loose and tapped Washington then went towards the yellow line. When Douglas’s left side tires touched the apron under the yellow line it made the car turn and shot him back up the track, crashing into Washington and O’Shea above him. 

Both Washington and O’Shea started to go left but O’Shea clipped Washington and sent him towards the wall and into Andrew Christopher. As O’Shea continued sliding down the track he crashed into the fourth place car of Benjamin Langston and the two of them crashed into the third car in the inside line which was Jerry Matthews.

After he hit the wall Washington started to go back across the track, as he did he collided with Bill Stanley who was behind Alexander.

Ashley was having a good day for a rookie. She was racing anywhere from 25th to 30th because her car was both loose and tight and whatever they did to try and fix it failed. When Ashley saw the big wreck or “the big one” happen, she got more nervous then she ever got in a race car before. It wasn’t because the wreck started up where her teammate and love was, but because it was the biggest wreck she had ever seen and she wasn’t sure that she was going to make it through.

“Now that’s The Big One everyone was afraid would happen” said television commentator and former Sprint Cup Champion Boris Foley as NASCAR put out the red flag, and froze the field in the tri-oval.

The rest of the race went fine, nothing happen, not even a blown motor. Alexander got five more points for leading the most laps, which meant he ended up with ten points added to the points he earned for what ever spot he finishes in.

By the end of the race it became clear that either Alexander or Russ Stanley would win because they were the only ones that could keep their cars up front. In the final three laps both Russ and Alexander traded the lead multiple times on the backstretch and tri-oval, however it was Alexander who went on to win, with Russ finishing second.

“Alexander Hawkins wins his first Daytona 500!” yelled Boris Foley to those who were watching the race on T.V, “and will start the season at the top of the points”


----------



## Mac5689 (Oct 29, 2008)

(Note: i'm leaving out the parents angle for now because i feel it fits in better (Ashley discovering that her parents have been watching her race in sprint cup) in a future installment. i mean who better to turn to when something hits the fan, then your estranged parents)


*Chapter Four: Daytona Aftermath*

Ashley finished 25th, which for a rookie is good but for a female rookie is great. As Ashley climbed out of her car, she looked around and watched as the fans started to leave little by little. She also noticed the crews, including her own, starting to push the cars into the garage so they could be put back into the haulers and sent home to their shops. 

As she took one more look around standing near the entrance to the garage, she noticed how tired she actually was. A reporter from Fox, who was televising the race, came up and asked for an interview. Ashley, not knowing for sure what she should do, agreed.

"How did you think you did out there?" asked the reporter, named Chip Block, kindly.

"Well I feel I did ok, but you'd have to ask the other drivers about that" she said with a smile. "My car was ok, nothing like my teammate's car, but you work with what you got, and I had what I felt was a great car."

"Do you think you'll get a win this season?"

"i'm not going to say I am. I want to but I also know that I have a lot to learn."

If you asked anyone they would say that Ashley had been coached by Alexander on what to say if she got interviewed because he had said almost the same thing, after his first Daytona 500. The fact was that she was coached in a way, but not by Alexander or anyone from the team, but by her grandfather. Ashley's grandfather told her that the best thing to say when interviewed was that you always talk nice about your car, your team, and the people you race against. He also taught her that you never say something that you have no control over, like winning a race. 

"Ok one last question Ms. McDonald" said the reporter as he looked down at his pad, "What do you have to say to all the female drivers that are trying to make it into the sport?"

"Well I'd have to say that they shouldn't give up and that if they try hard, they can make it."

As Ashley walked back to her motor home, she was stopped by a girl about six, who had asked for her autograph. and as if she was again copying Alexander she signed it. As she signed a notebook filled with other drivers names, Ashley asked the girl her name. The girl's name was Alexandra. Ashley then asked what Alexandra wanted to do when she grew up. Alexandra replied that she wanted to race cars like Ashley did.

"Well Alexandra, I'm sure that you'll make a great driver someday" she commented as she gave Alexandra her book back.

"You really think so?" asked Alexandra happily.

"Yes, and you know what else?"

"What?" Alexandra again asked happily.

"You were the first person to ask for my autograph" Ashley said with a smile.

"i am?"

"Yes."

As Ashley continued to her motor coach, she started to think about Alexander for the first time since she got into the racecar.S he wished she could go have lunch with him, but knew that wasn’t feasible. She settled for whipping up a generous serving of macaroni and cheese and relaxing with it and a tall Coors. And another.-

Alexander hated the interviews he had to do after winning the race, wearing all the different sponsor hats in Victory Lane, to help promote himself as well as the sponsors sucked too, but he liked it better then doing the media interviews. 

Alexander got out later then usual because Speed, and ESPN wanted to do live interviews, and FOX wanted a sound bite for a ad that would be aired during breaks to tell viewers that they were watching NASCAR races on FOX.

Finally he went to his motor home, which was in a now empty lot in a empty race track, so that he could change and head back to North Carolina. 

About two hours later Alexander exited his plane at a small airport near Moorsville; he was the only one besides the pilot and co-pilot, since Mac decided to stay behind in Daytona and party with the team. Alexander would have partied too but he wanted to clear his head about everything that happen that weekend and he was also tired. As he exited the airport itself, he headed to his truck that was in the parking lot, but was stopped when a voice in the shadow called out to him.

"There you are, i've been waiting for ever!" said the voice.

Alexander turned to around and faced the direction the voice came from, totally confused because although the voiced sounded familiar he had no idea who it could be. Everyone he knew would either be out partying or at their homes sleeping. then the person stepped out of the shadow and into the light, and Alexander was surprised to see Ashley standing there.

"What are you doing here?" asked Alexander.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your win" she replied a bit drunkenly
.
"You drunk?" 

"Yes" she said as she walked up to him, and as she got closer he could smell the liquor on her.

"i'm going to take you back to my place, since you are probably a bit too drunk to remember the way back to your place" he said, he was also worried about leaving her alone.

Alexander helped Ashley to his truck and as they got close enough so that she could make out the model of the truck she started to laugh.

"You drive a Ford" she said through the laughter.

"Yeah, so what so wrong with that?" he asked as if he didn't see a problem with it.

"Our team's make is Chevy" she said as he opened the passengers side door for her.

"Again so?"

"Why don't you have a Chevy?"

"i have a Chevy pick up, and a Chevy Monte Carlo, that they gave me after my first win. other then those two I own only Fords" he said as he closed the door while she laughed.

The drive to Alexander's house was quiet, neither seamed to want to talk. 

Ashley was surprised when she saw his house, because she had expected that he lived in a mansion; instead he lived in a two story colonial house that oddly had six bedrooms.

Alexander helped Ashley into one of the spare bedrooms, but never left after he stepped in.

**********************************************************

*Tuesday, 8:30 PM.*

There was a knock on the door of a private office in what use to be a old meat packing plant. 

"Come in," said a deep sounding voice.

The door opened, and a man that was in is mid thirties and starting to bald came stepped in the very dim lit room, it was so dim that anyone outside the door or outside the building would think that nobody was in, and walked to the desk.

"I got something I think you should see boss," said the man.

"OK" said the man behind the desk as he turned around in his chair to face the man, "what is it?" 

The man sitting at the desk was in his 50's and had white hair, that formed a U, since he had no hair on the top of his head.

"These sir," said the young man as he handed over a envelope

"What are they?" the old man asked as he opened the envelope, and took out its contents and laid them on the desk. 

"Oh I see," he said before the young man could answer.

What the old man saw were pictures of Alexander and Ashley, one of which was taken the day of the Duel Races.

"I saw them walking together on the track the morning of the 500" said the old man after a few moments of silence.

"What do you want to do?" asked the young man.

"Nothing.......yet," began the old man, "I want you to continue to take pictures of them when they are together whenever you can. try not to attract attention to yourself when you do."

"Yes sir."

"In the meantime, we are going to sit on these pictures."

Both men then laughed an evil laugh.

(continued in post 41 of this thread)


----------



## Mac5689 (Nov 4, 2008)

i know this is late but i wanted to put the top 12 in points after the DAYTONA 500:

1.Alexander Hawkins 195	
2.Russ Stanley 175	-20
3.Joe Taylor 170	-25
4.Raul Ruiz 160 -35
5.James Kavanaugh 155	-40
6.James Toye 150	-45
7.Allen Kelly 146 -49
8.Lucas Doyle 142	-53
9.Dean Blaine 138	-57
10.Steve Brooks 134	-61
11.Stephen Davis 130	-65
12.Ronald Duncan 127	-68




25.Ashley McDonald 88 -107


----------



## Mac5689 (Nov 9, 2008)

*Chapter 5 - Four Races After Daytona*

Alexander left Daytona with a twenty point lead over Russ Stanley, but when he left California he had a forty-five point lead over Joe Taylor. Alexander held the points lead by doing something nobody else had since Geoff Jenson in 1997. That was to win the first two races in the Sprint Cup Season. 

When Geoff Jenson did it he also won the points championship, however the difference between 1997 and now was that there were four less races in '97. After his second win Alexander was starting to be compared to Geoff Jenson and they also wondered if he could win the championship.

Ashley had a day she would want to have again. She rode in the top 15 all day which lead her to finish 13th. That is the best finish of her career to date.

Alexander and Ashley celebrated much the same way they did the week before but with two differences. One Alexander was drunk as well as Ashley, and two Alexander flew back from California with his crew chief.

The next weekend Ashley backed up her best finish of her career, with her best qualifying spot to date which was 18th. She couldn't however one up her teammate who qualified 14th.

By the end of the weekend at Las Vegas the media was all over the two Wilson Racing drivers, Ashley because of her top ten finish as well as the fact that she was six points out of the top 12. The media was after Alexander because he still held the points championship; they also wanted to kmow what he thought about Ashley's finish. Apparently they wanted to find some conflict, but instead he praised his teammate. 

After the race Ashley flew back to North Carolina with Alexander, because she was told that the plane she owned and would normally use had broken down. This, however was a lie, perpetrated to create an opportunity for more clandestine pictures to be taken of her and Alex together.

The race weekend at Atlanta started out like one Ashley would want to forget. During qualifying she made a rookie mistake by trying to run wide open and backed the car into the wall. After having the best qualifying of her career the week before, she will now have to start at the back of the field in a back-up car.

Qualifying went well for Alexander who qualified second.

The race went great for Alexander who lead a few laps and finished 5th. Ashley finished 16th, but everyone felt that she could have won if she hadn't wrecked her primary car. She also made it into the top 12.

The media again were all over the Wilson Racing teams at Bristol. The reason was because Alexander took the pole by tying the track record of 14.908 seconds set by Yan Rewman in 2003, and Ashley because of her top 12 qualifying spot. 

At the end of the weekend the media were still all over Alexander and Ashley. Alexander led almost half of the 500 laps and won the race. It was Ashley's first race at Bristol and she finished tenth, and she avoided every wreck which is a big thing at the smallest short track on the Sprint Cup schedule.

Ashley was now in 11th in points.

**********************************************************

"Here are the pictures from Bristol boss," said the thirty something year old man, as he dropped a envelope on the desk. 

His boss picked up the envelope and took out the pictures, then said "kinda light."

"Yeah well, it's hard to take pictures of the two when the motor home lot is outside the track..... so what are you going to do with those pictures?" asked the younger man after a moment of silence.

"i'm going to release them to the media in a few weeks," said the old man with a evil smile.

(Continued in new thread, here)


----------

