Long Haul

Sixteen

The morning tradition of making pancakes together was in full swing by 7 AM. Ashton sat at the dinette table, working on her blog while Kade and Dayton made the normal breakfast. Bristol was in her portable swing, catching a few extra minutes of sleep since the day was bound to be crazy. Kade not only had to race at 3, but he had appearances to do as well as a Q&A  session that NASCAR had asked for. Normally, race day was spent with his family but this week they needed a few extras, so he agreed.

"Alright, I have to get going," He said as he came out of the bedroom, wearing his black Hendrick Motorsports polo and a pair of jeans. "I'll see you at 2:30?"

"You will, I'm gonna see if I can have Bristol nap a little early," Ashton nodded, sitting on the couch with their girls as they watched Frozen 2 for the billionth time.

The day flew by and soon enough it was time for the pre-race ceremonies to start. Fans cleared out, the national anthem was played and the prayer was said before it was go time.

"You be safe out there," Ashton told him, handing Bristol to him as he wanted his hugs from this youngest.

"I will Ash. I promise," He nodded, handing Bristol back over after he kissed her little head.

"I love you, Daddy," Dayton said as she hugged his leg.

"I love you too nugget," he smiled as he knelt down and hugged her tightly.

They got in the pit box while Kade got in the car, doing the quick radio check before the pace laps started.

Once the green flag waved, it was all on the line. Stage one was relatively calm with a caution here and there, but luckily everything was behind Kade who was finishing stage one in 10th, behind Ryan and Kyle Larson.

Stage 2 was something else. Every other green flag lap there seemed to be something going wrong and the yellow would come out, but they were lucky that it was still in Kade's rear view and not out the front windshield.

It was coming down to the last few laps. Kade was battling with Ryan for the lead and it was a constant game of leapfrog for them. He was already in the playoffs with his win at Daytona so if Ryan won, they would still be happy and celebrate with their friend.

"Is daddy gonna win mommy?" Dayton asked, looking at the track as the white flag was waving.

"I don't know baby, but he's close!" She smiled, watching the TV as the cars were now behind them.

Kade was still in first place as they came around turn 3 and 4. Kyle Busch was behind him and trying to come around but Kade was doing a pretty good job of blocking him.

"Come on babe," she whispered, listening to him talk to his crew chief and spotter on the nascar scanner. She could hear everything they said on that.

It seemed like everything was going fine but that all changed in an instant. The car got loose and Kade had absolutely no control as it turned, hit the wall, and flipped before Bowman nearly hit him again. The car rolled several more times before finally stopping and resting on its roof.

"Daddy!" Dayton screamed, watching the whole thing with her mom in the pit box.

Ashton grabbed her daughter and put her in her lap, trying to calm her down and face her away from everything while she couldn't take her eyes off the wrecked car.

"Kade you okay?" Jack asked, standing up to watch what happened.

"Talk to us when you can Kade, you good?" His spotter, Nathan, asked.

Not hearing anything from her husband was making Ashton sick to her stomach but she was trying to keep a strong front so Dayton wouldn't get more scared. His window net didn't come down either, adding more fear to her face.

She wanted to switch the radio. She wanted to hear anyone else say that he was out and he was fine. She couldn't bring herself to switch it, waiting for her husband to give them the signal that he was fine.

"They're skipping the care center, Ashton. Go straight to the hospital," Jack told her, watching as the woman's face went nearly white as a sheet.

"Stay here," she told Dayton, sitting her in a seat before climbing down the ladder and stopping at the wall as she saw the crumpled car.

"Ash!" Chase called, making his way over to the pit stall Kade was assigned to.

"They haven't heard from him! I have no clue what's going on!" She said as he got to her, "He got loose, and then, and then he hit the wall and Alex had nowhere to go and almost hit him, he-he rolled 7 or 8 times!"

"Where are the girls?" He asked, climbing over the wall.

"Pit box,"

"Alright, I got them. Get out of here,"

She nodded and quickly got to the car, getting out of the track as quickly as she could. She tried so hard to keep up with the ambulance but got stopped by a red light as the ambulance raced through it.

She watched it drive away as she stopped, finally letting herself break down. She was so used to him throwing the window net down and jumping out of the car but this time nothing. No voice on the scanner, no window net going down, and no angry Kade getting out of the car.

She drove faster than she should have as soon as the light turned green. She needed to get to her husband.