Love in Victory Lane (A Chase Elliott FanFic)

Chapter Four

My dad followed the directions of a parking director and parked our truck in the grass. We were a good distance away from the track, but I could already see the merchandise haulers and I saw the stadium for the track looming high above everything else. My heart started to race, and I grabbed the merchandise I wanted signed by different drivers. I also grabbed the painting of Chase's number 9 that I had painted for him to sign. I was anxious to go see everything, so I said, "Come on y'all! Let's go!" to my parents.

We started making our way toward the area where the merchandise haulers and exhibits were, and I began smiling when I saw all the people walking around. I heard the sound of classic southern rock music become louder, and my southern pride swelled up in me a little bit. I mean, this was a redneck's dream. Being at a Nascar race in Atlanta, Georgia, while listening to southern rock and being surrounded by fellow rednecks is what every redneck wants. I slowed down and waited for my parents to catch up. When they caught up to me, I walked around with them for a while. We walked by all the merchandise trailers, but we only stopped at the Dale Jr. trailer, the Chase Elliott trailer, the JR Motorsports trailer, and the Atlanta Motor Speedway trailer. Those were our favorite drivers and we wanted to see if there was any merchandise we could buy. We steered clear of the Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Danica Patrick trailers because those were the drivers I do not like. I scowled at the ugly yellow Kyle Busch trailer that was covered in giant M&Ms because he is the driver I hate the most (A/N #sorrynotsorry to the Kyle Busch fans). After we saw all the merchandise and exhibits, we met up with Emily at the Dale Jr. show car exhibit.

"Emily! Can you believe we are finally here??" I asked my best friend. "I can't wait to go explore the track and look for Chase with you!" I exclaimed with a squeal.

"Oh my God, Same!" she screamed. "I wanna run into Ryan Blaney! He's so bae palm tree!" (A/N Inside joke between me and my best friend in real life who this character portrays who is also named Emily. It's code for someone extremely hot).

"I know right! I also wanna meet Dale Jr. and even Amy Reimann, but meeting any of the drivers would be awesome!" I said. I turned to my parents and said, "We are gonna go walk around until we can go into the pits, then we will pick up our Pit Passes and head for Pit Road so I can try to meet the drivers."

"Okay, y'all be careful and stay out of trouble," my mom cautioned.

"Okay, Momma, we will. Text me if you need anything."

"Alright," my mom said.

Emily and I started walking away when my dad called out my name. "Hunter," he called.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Don't attack Chase when you see him. Just act naturally and you will stand more of a chance with him," my dad said while laughing.

"Okay, Daddy, I won't," I laughed back.

Emily and I walked away to go explore the track. First, we walked over to the music stage and watched a cover band play some southern rock songs like "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Brothers. After listening and singing several songs, we decided to go walk around the merchandise trailers again. We stopped by the Chase Elliott Napa trailer, and Emily and I bought matching lanyards to hold our tickets and pit passes. After we bought the lanyards, we headed towards the consession stands to buy some drinks. We continued to walk around, and we would point out random hot dudes to each other when we saw them.

We were walking past an exhibit of a guy doing tricks on a BMX bike when suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a reminder, telling me that we had five minutes to get to the ticket office to pick up our pit passes. "Emily! We have five minutes to get all the way to the ticket office to pick up our pit passes. We need to hurry so we can get to the pits before they get too crowded," I said to Emily.