The Start-up

It was a bright and sunny day in Madison, Wisconsin, when a red Gen 6 Chevy SS was speeding up to going straight on an abandoned runway. Near the end of the run, the RPM Tachometer showed that the car's engine was near it's breaking point. Thankfully, the car made it to the end, and passed someone who was holding a stopwatch. The woman looked at the time, and was disappointed.

As the car slowly rolled to a stop next to the woman, the driver took off his helmet and was feeling down. Just then, the woman approached the car and took down the window net. "25.03 seconds. You were slow on the start. Are you sure you're not out of it?" She asked.

The driver was still feeling down. "It's not that mom, it's just… I-I don't feel up to the task today, I just don't know why" He said.

"Son, that's considered being out of it. If you're still thinking about the Truck Series offer, take your time. There's still time before the season starts" The mother said, kneeling down at his seating level.

The driver was aggressively taking off his gloves. "I know, but it feels like deep down inside, racing in the Truck Series would be a massive step down" He said.

"I understand, but I don't know if racing another season right after floundering in the Xfinity Series for 9 months is going to help your chances" The mother said.

The driver sighed. "I know, but it might-" His mom's phone rang as he said the sentence. "Hang on, I have to take this call" The mother said, as she took the call and walked a few steps away from the car.

The driver set the car into 1st gear, then a few seconds later, his mother walked back with a smile on her face. The driver was confused. "Max, you're going to the Cup Series." The mother said. "What?" He asked. "You're going to race for Zasko starting in February!" The mother said in excitement.

There was some silence for a few seconds. "Who's Zasko?" Max asked.

Multiple months later…

Charlotte, NC

Max was walking into a building with a suitcase in hand. Despite it being mid-January, he was sweating buckets, as he was really nervous. He then took a deep breath in and out. "Okay. It's time I face the music" Max said to himself out loud.

Max then opened the door slowly. As he slowly walked in, he saw three 3 cars lined up. One was a test car, one was a car in primer, and the last one was partially wrapped and was held up by car jacks, with the tires off.

Max suddenly heard tools hit the ground in the distance and was startled. He looked over at the toolbox next to the test car, and grabbed a wrench that was on top of it. He slowly walked over to the door behind the primer car, as that's where the noise was coming from.

As he opened the door, a girl threw a wrench at his face. This sent him falling back into the same toolbox hitting his head on it, knocking him out.

As Max woke up a half hour later, all he saw was a blonde girl's face sideways in his point of view. His head was lying on her lap as she sat on a bench in the room. He then flipped out and fell onto the ground face first.

The girl was startled. "Oh no, are you okay?" She asked, hands covering her mouth.

Max got up with his hand on his head. As this happened, the girl was scared out of her mind. "I'm… truly sorry! I thought that you were a burglar!" she shouted in panic.

She then went down onto the floor in front of him and kneeled and bowed down in front of him. Max looked very confused as he didn't know how to respond. "Please don't hurt me!" She said in fear.

Max was then surprised, and tried to clear the situation. "Wait, no, no, no! It's okay! Please stop kneeling down to me! It feels weird" Max said.

5 Minutes later…

Max and the blonde girl were sitting on opposite sides of the desk in the room. They both sat there in silence for ages. Max held an ice pack on his head, while the girl looked scared. "So, are you finally gonna tell me what's going on and who you are?" Max asked.

She was shaking in nervousness. "Well… to start off… My name is Carina Mosser. I'm pretty new around here. I'm 18, and my hobbies are playing racing games, watching hockey, and dancing the –" She got cut off.

"No, no! What's your job here? Like what exactly is your role in this team?" Max asked.

She looked very hesitant to say anything. Then someone else popped up. "Carina is the car chief for my operation" The man said, Max and Carina looked over at the door.

"Greetings, young blood. I am Ernest Zasko. As you can notice from the name, I am the owner of this team" he said.

"Um… okay. But why haven't I ever heard of you before? My mother seemed to have known about you" Max said.

"I've had a team back in the days of the K&N Pro Series. At some point, I decided to put some more money together and boost my team all the way up to the big time. And that leaves us here at this moment" Ernest said as he walked across the room.

Max looked disappointed. "Really? There's nothing more to your origin story?" Max asked.

"I'm not necessarily one for details" Ernest said.

Suddenly, something Ernest said earlier came back to Max. "Wait a minute! Did you just say earlier that this girl here is the car chief?!" Max asked, pointing at Carina with his thumb.

Ernest approached Max. "Is there a problem with that, Mr…" Ernest said.

"Just call me Max. Max Paston. And no! That's not the problem! It's just that she doesn't—" Max got cut off.

"Present herself like one? Why yes, I get that comment a lot. In fact, I get that from a lot of journalists. They constantly question why I hired her, especially due to her little experience" Ernest said.

"So if that's been an issue, why even consider hiring me?! I only have one year of Xfinity Series experience, and I did horrible. And my money situation isn't as good either" Max said.

"'Cause I see the potential you have. All you need is just a little boost" Ernest said with extra enthusiasm.

"That tells me nothing" Max said.

Max then looked around and realized something else. "Wait a minute! If Mosser here is the Car Chief, then who's the CREW Chief?" Max asked.

Ernest looked away in hesitation. "Wellllll…" He said.

At the pit box a few minutes later…

"MOM?!" Max shouted in shock.

His mother was sitting at the top of the pit box. "Hi Max! What do you think of my new role?" His mom asked.

"But WHY?! I thought you were done with this stuff years ago!" Max said.

"Oh well, I didn't want to get your hopes up, son. I thought it would be best as a surprise" The mom said.

Max face-palmed and turned the other way, with Carina standing next to him. "Jesus Lord, save me now" Max whispered.

"Well, I think your mom seems very nice" Carina said, arms behind her back and smiling.

"Oh Mosser, you have no idea" Max said.

In the distance, there was a red 2016 Ford Taurus behind some bushes, with a woman and a cameraman who was sitting in the passenger seat. The woman was using binoculars and was looking inside the garage at the cars. "That Zasko bloke is mental if anything else. Wasting a bunch of cars on Max Paxton of all the rubbish drivers to pick from" she said.

"Well, he's not the worst driver out there" the cameraman said.

"I pay you to film, not speak. So shut up, Sherman" She said.

Max and Carina walked back into the garage. "So, where exactly am I gonna sleep tonight, Mr. Zasko" Max asked.

"Oh, please just call Ernest, Max" Ernest said.

Max felt weird about it. "Um… well, anyways. I'm not too sure where to sleep" Max said.

"Oh, yeah. You're sleeping with Carina during your time with my team. I completely forgot" Ernest said.

Max and Carina were both shocked. "WHAT?!" They both shouted.

"L-l-look, no offense to Carina, but this is a really bad idea" Max said.

Carina was clinched up behind Max in nervousness. "Mr. Zasko? That wasn't the plan " Carina said.

Max was then confused by what Carina said. "Wait, what does THAT mean?" He asked, looking behind him slightly.

"Well, it's already settled. You two have fun" Ernest said, walking away with a hand up.

"What the, wait! What about my mom?!" Max said, trying to reach over to Ernest.

Suddenly his mom grabbed him from behind. "Oh don't you worry, son. It was my idea. In fact, with your expertise, you two can be the perfect pair" The mom said, cuddling both Max and Carina.

"Oh my good Lord" Max said, face-palming again.

Later at night

At Carina's place

Max was in shock from the size of Carina's house. "Oh my Lord! This house is huge!" Max said as there was then a huge echo. "So how is it that a girl like you lives in a house like this?" Max asked, whilst looking around.

"It belongs to my dad. He's usually out on his business trips across the continent. I always wanted to go with him, but we were never that close. Especially after…" Carina hesitated to finish her sentence.

"After what?" Max asked.

Carina got even more hesitant. "Um… Let's get to your room for tonight" Carina said.

Max felt bummed out.

Later that night as he was sleeping in the guest room, the bedsheet only covered his bottom half as he was tossing and turning constantly. Max was thinking about a crash at Kansas after exiting turn 2, which caused the car to roll 9 times. As the driver was stuck inside the car, it burst into flames.

The Next Day

Max suddenly woke up from the nightmare shouting. Suddenly he saw Carina standing right next to the bed. It was silent for almost a solid minute. "Uuuuummm…. It was nothing. Probably just need to get used to sleeping here" Max said, sitting on the side of the bed.

"Let's go eat. Show me your frigerator" Max said, as he got up and walked out of the room. And Carina looked concerned for him.

A few hours later, the pit crew was working on the test car, when Carina walked by them, and straight into the office, where Max's mom was sitting in. The mom then got up in a cheerful mood. "So, are you excited to work with me, little Carina?" The mom asked.

The mom then realized that Carina looked really tired. "Whoa, are you okay dear?" the mom asked.

"Not exactly. No offense, Ms. Paxton, but your son was making noise all night. And when I went to check on him, he was turning all over the bed" Carina said.

The mom's facial expression suddenly changed. "Oh no" she said to herself.

Just then Zasko approached the pit crew. "Alright guys, it's time to take it out to Daytona. We have 1 day to get there for the Daytona 500 qualifying, so let's go" Ernest said.

Ernest then opened the office door. "Are you two ready to go?" He asked.

'I guess it's no big deal. Maybe it's best I tell her another time' Carina said.

Meanwhile, at Daytona…

In the morning, a bunch of teams had test cars out on the track before qualifying. The #75 Food Lion Chevy of Doug Carter was in his team garage, pacing in front of his car. Just then, his crew chief approached him. "Well, I just got news about Zasko arriving soon" The Crew Chief said.

Doug wasn't happy about it. "I'm sorry, why are you telling me this? I need to focus on the testing" Doug said.

"Oh right, about that. It was in the boss' best interest that we save the car for qualifying" The Crew Chief said.

This sudden news caught Doug off guard. "Wait. (Scoffs) I don't understand. So, despite us testing the Gen 7 car only 2 weeks prior to today, we're not gonna try to maximize our time?!" Doug said in frustration.

"The boss decided to cut back on equipment usage until Food Lion pays up more money in sponsorship" The Crew Chief said.

Doug was pist about it. He sighed deeply. "This is seriously how my sophomore year is gonna start, isn't it?" Doug whispered.

To Be Continued...