Long Haul

Twenty

The next few weeks were all full of healing and laying around the house. They were 2 weeks into recovery now and Kade had seen his doctor to do a quick check-in on how things were going. He was supposed to be on Good Morning America at some point but at this point, they were pushing it back to just before he came back. That was mostly on Ashton as she didn't want him to be flying if he was in pain.

Kade had decided with his team that they were going to skip the Allstar race to give him one more week of recovery before returning to Charlotte.

After being cleared by his doctor to fly, they took the Hendrick jet to New York, ready for the filming.

After the crash at Talladega, it was a big talking point about safety and what needs to be fixed or tweaked. His car was taken to the NASCAR R&D center to be checked for the condition after the crash and to see what could be improved.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Ashton asked, looking at him as they waited for the plane to take off.

"Yeah. It's fine ash. It's a little vacation for all of us. We need to get out of North Carolina for a little bit,"

"Alright," she nodded.

Bristol slept through the flight while Dayton played on her iPad as they flew the short hour and a half. They got to New York around 7 that night, all tired out from the flight.

They got into the hotel room and put the girls to bed first before going to bed with Ashton as they prepared for the day ahead.

The next morning, they were up by 6:40 and all getting ready for the appearance that was set to start at 8. They had to be at the studio by 7:30 to be ready.

They were at the studio right on time and taken to the green room where they waited for him to go on.

After a little waiting, it was his turn and Ashton was sitting in the front row with their daughters, happy that they were able to watch him when it could've ended much worse.

"Today we have NASCAR driver Kade Williams with us after the big crash at Talladega that is on the screen now," Robin Roberts started as the crash played on the screen.

Kade sat there, watching the crash and all he could think was how lucky he was to cheat death.

"Good morning Kade,"

"Mornin," he smiled, looking over at Ashton who was also smiling.

"So that was pretty scary. And I guess my first question is how are you feeling today?"

"I feel alright. It wouldn't be the same response if you asked me a few weeks ago," he chuckled a little, making everyone smile at the table.

"What injuries did you sustain in the crash?"

"It was a pretty rough concussion and then a fractured vertebrae from hitting the ground and sinking into my seat," Kade explained.

"Now everyone saw this, it was all over the news. What was the support like from the community?"

"It was great. My wife and I were really grateful for the support from the Charlotte area as well as our Nascar family. Every day there has been someone calling or our friends have stopped by to check on us. My teammates were even popping by to take Dayton to lunch or the trampoline park which I can't thank them enough for," he nodded.

"How did the family react?"

"My wife knew when she married me that this was a possibility. We both knew there would be injuries and everything but she was scared. I was more worried when I came to about my oldest daughter. We've been struggling with her being a little nervous about the job,"

"What was the first thing you told your daughter when you saw her?"

"I told her just simply, I'm gonna be fine," he answered, smiling as he looked over at Dayton who was sitting with Ashton. "My girls are my rock, and to see Dayton that upset, I don't ever want to see again. The safety in the cars has come a long way but this is definitely something for them to look at,"

"Do you know when will you be back in the car? Is there a timeline after an injury like this?"

"I'm hoping to be back next week. I have one final check tomorrow and we'll go from there," he nodded, finishing the interview off from there.

After they had finished filming, the family went out for a nice lunch before going back to the hotel and packing up. They had planned to leave right after filming so they could get home and prepare for the doctors' appointment in the morning.