Long Haul

Five

As soon as they got to Hendrick Motorsports, Kade unloaded the suitcases from the back of the Traverse while Dayton made a break for Uncle Alex.

"Hey, squirt," he chuckled, hugging the little girl as she ran into him.

"Where's uncle chase?"

"He's probably flying in on his own, baby," Ashton said as she set Bristol's car seat down and handed the base to Kade.

"How's that little one doing?"

"She's grown a ton. She's starting to get some rolls," she chuckled, lifting her out of the seat.

"She has," he chuckled.

The Larson's soon pulled up, all of them getting out of their car.

"Look at that baby," Katelyn said as she came up and saw the growing little one in Ashton's arms.

"She's getting to be a chunk," Ashton grinned, "She's the exact opposite of Dayton,"

"We struggled to get Dayton to gain weight," Kade said as he came up behind his wife. "The entire time she was a baby, even when she was a toddler, we'd feed her chicken nuggets all the time. That's where the nickname came from,"

"She got there, though," Ashton chuckled, "we ready?"

"Let's go," they all nodded and boarded the plane.

The flight was only a little over 2 hours, and Dayton spent the whole time playing a game against Alex on her iPad.

They landed in Florida right around 9 AM, and all went to their own buses that were parked in the Daytona infield.

Dayton went to bed in her bunk for a while, as well as Bristol. Kade and Ashton made some breakfast and waited for their older child while they had their coffee.

"You ready for Daytona?" She asked, looking at her husband as she got some of Dayton's schoolwork out to get that ready for the day.

"Yeah, I got a good feeling," he nodded, "You ready for the best time of the year?"

"If you ask our kid, she'll say that's Christmas, not Daytona week," she chuckled, "But I am ready. I'm happy we decided to homeschool Day so we could be here,"

"I am too, plus it gives her an extra second to actually learn. I feel like the school system shoves information at them and gives them a test," Kade said as he sat across from her and started signing pictures.

She nodded in agreement as she finished her coffee and put it in the sink.

Dayton got up a little bit later and started her homework with Ashton while Kade went to the garage for a little bit. Qualifying was supposed to begin around eight, so Ashton had promised if they finished all of her schoolwork, that she could watch qualifying in the stands with Ashton and Bristol.

"Hey, nugget," Kade said as he came in the bus to see Dayton doing her schoolwork and Ashton feeding Bristol.

"Hi, Daddy," she smiled, finishing the worksheet and handing it to him.