Forever To Go

1

—Charlotte Motor Speedway—
—May 2023–

"Low. Low. Low!" Tyler, Corey's spotter repeated over the radio but it was just too late. "We're done. You okay Corey?"

"Yep. All good," he nodded, getting out of the car and stalking toward the ambulance that was waiting for a few of the drivers.

Amber knew he was pissed and now it was her job as the wife to be there when he came out of the care center and give him the TLC he needed.

"Want a ride?" David asked, taking the headset off as he looked at his daughter.

"Yeah," she nodded, climbing down the ladder before her father.

The 2 of them met because of the crew chief. He wanted to show his daughter what he did, and growing up around Nascar, Amber couldn't say no. She met the young driver her dad worked with and the rest is history. They'd been married a year now and she was at every race she could be, which was mostly all of them.

She was given everything as soon as she got there, waiting with her dad until he came out from the back. She was always somewhat nervous after the wrecks but knew he was okay, especially after getting out of the car under his own power. It was always in the back of her mind that he could be hurt and even though he did get out on his own, she needed to watch him.

The first thing Corey did every time he came out of the care center was hug her tightly and today was no different. Even though it was just a collision with another car.

"I'm alright. I promise," Corey sighed, holding her tightly before she pulled away.

"Doesn't make the wrecks any easier to watch," she sighed, "but I'm glad you're okay,"

"I am," he nodded, giving her a quick kiss. "I gotta go say my piece and then we can stay and watch the rest of the race or we can head home. Up to you,"

"What do you want to do?" She asked, not knowing how he felt about leaving so soon. He hated it. He was one of the drivers that was always congratulating the winners.

"I'm alright with just waiting for the team," He shrugged, "I'll see you in a little bit,"

Amber just nodded as he kissed her head before he went to talk to the media. She got back to the bus and put the race on, texting the group chat she had with Allie Bowman, Hailey Elliot, and Erin Blaney that Corey was fine and they would be waiting on the team to head back home.

(Text Photo)

The door soon opened, and it was none other than Corey who simply looked exhausted.

"Hot shower?" She asked, gauging what he wanted from her so he could relax.

"That and a back massage would be nice," he nodded, taking his shoes off as he got into the bus.

"Go on," she smiled a little, kissing him before he walked to their bathroom and shut the door.

She waited for him to come to their room as she watched the race on their bedroom TV. It wasn't long before Corey was back in the room with her and collapsing onto their bed beside her.

"Who's leading?" He mumbled, not wanting to look at the race as she rubbed his back.

"Blaney," she answered.

"At least he's a good guy. Penske won the Indy 500 today too, they're probably trying to sweep the weekend," he mumbled again, not moving from his spot as she watched.

"I would assume so," she nodded, massaging areas of his back that she knew tended to get pretty tight after a long race in the car.

"I'll take him winning," he sighed, letting his body relax, "That feels good Amb,"

"I know," she chuckled, watching the race as she massaged some of the knots out of Corey's back. "I was a massage therapist in a past life,"

"I remember," he chuckled a little. "Still glad that your dad had the opportunity to introduce us,"

After a little while, they watched the rest of the race together, watching as Ryan Blaney took the win. They stayed for some of the victory lane celebrations, making sure to go so they could congratulate Ryan on his win and say hi to his girlfriend, Gianna.

"I think he's over here," Corey said as he held Amber's hand while they moved through the crowd. "Hey. Ryan,"

"Hey guys," The driver of the 12 smiled, shaking Corey's hand while Amber hugged Gianna.

"Congratulations man," Corey smiled.

"Thanks, Corey. How you doing? Looked like a hard hit," Ryan asked, being told by his spotter what had happened.

"It felt like it," he chuckled, squeezing Amber's hand as she stood next to him. "But I'm alright. We definitely need to teach Brad not to push so hard,"

"Yeah. I agree," he nodded, knowing it was Brad's pushing that got Harvick loose and caused him to come down in front of Corey.

"Enjoy the night man, congrats again," Corey said as he shook Ryan's hand one more time before heading back to the bus.

"Thanks, Corey," Ryan nodded before going back to any interviews he had to do.

Corey and Amber walked back to the 5 hauler, meeting up with David and Tyler to go over what had happened in the race.

"So here's what happened," David said as he puked up the video footage on the computer in the lounge. "Brads here, pushing the 4. 4 gets loose, turns and goes down the banking but comes right back up and that's all she wrote,"

Corey just nodded, squeezing Amber's hand as they watched. He knew she hated rewatching them but they needed to learn where things went wrong. There was something about him standing next to her as they watched, bringing her comfort and even more confidence in him as a driver.

After that meeting was finished, they headed back to the bus, packed up, and headed home for the night.