Austin, Texas - Circuit of the Americas

--FOX Broadcast--

"Whether it's Formula 1 or NASCAR, the city of Austin, Texas loves racing. FOX NASCAR welcomes you to the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas."

The screen then cut to the same 3 commentators in the commentary box.

"Hi everyone, I'm Mike Joy, alongside Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. We are already 6 races into the season and this is our first road course race of the year. What is there to watch out for?"

"Well, Mike. We gotta watch out for the guys who are experts at these tracks; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, and William Byron. We've also got several road course ringers in this race."

"Yeah, that's right. Shane Van Gisbergen, who won last year's race at the Chicago Street Course, AJ Allmendinger, and 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Kamui Kobayashi. Lots of storylines going into this race."

"Well this track is unique because of it's design. It was built for Formula 1, but unlike in F1, there are no track limit rules here in NASCAR, except in the esses. If you short cut the esses, you have to do a pass through penalty on pit road at pit road speed. The drivers are strapped in, let's go trackside for the command."

"DRIVERS, START YOUR ENGINES!!!"

The crowd roared as 40 stock cars came to life. After going through the pace laps, the pace car pulled off and the cars took the green flag.

--FOX Broadcast--

Mike Joy: "Green flag, and the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix is underway!"

The cars went up the hill to Turn 1.

Mike Joy: "Boy, three wide and Ty Gibbs sort of missed that corner. He's now battling for 6th instead of the lead. Reddick wasting no time going after William Byron."

Kevin Harvick: "Well, we knew Tyler Reddick would be tough here and you heard him talk about his mistakes in qualifying and how they were able to rebound on hot tires and that tells me he has a lot of confidence in how fast his car is."

Clint Bowyer: "Now William Byron's gonna have something to say about it too. He was fast last year, always has speed in that hot rod and that will be no different."

Lap 14

Mike made his pit stop and set out as the first stage was about to end.

"How good are we running?" He asked.

"We're running 6th, so we're still good," Justin Alexander replied.

Mike just sighed and continued on.

--FOX Broadcast--

Mike Joy: "Green checkered for Christopher Bell, second stage win this year for Bell, and his first ever at Circuit of the Americas."

Lap 18

Mike Joy: "Here they come! White line, start of the restart zone, and Bell is on it. McDowell is right with them. And how will they fan out as they come to the top of the hill? Green flag back out and Stage 2 is underway!"

Clint Bowyer: "Here they come, divebomb city look at Byron looking to the inside. So far so good for Christopher Bell and McDowell holding steady on those old tires."

Lap 30

--FOX Broadcast--

Mike Joy: "Around Turn 20 and back to the start-finish line. Denny Hamlin is your Stage 2 winner. Half a second back on Ryan Blaney, and 1.7 ahead of Martin Truex, Jr."

Lap 39

Mike Joy: "William Byron chose the inside so did Ty Gibbs, that puts Ross Chastain on the outside for the restart. The green flag is out and we're underway in the final stage as they fan out and climb the hill! 134 feet vertical rise to Turn 1!"

Kevin Harvick: "See the 24 got-"

Clint Bowyer: "He got in too hard, yes!"

Mike Joy: "Haley way to the inside made it 4 wide! And Chastain with the lead!"

Lap 45

"Go, go, go, go, go, all the way, all the way, all the way!"

Mike's pit stop went just about as well as the others did. It was his last pit stop for the race. As he set out, he couldn't help but feel exhausted. He and the other drivers have been at it for an hour already and he was looking forward to the race being over.

Lap 56
--FOX Broadcast--

Mike Joy: "OH, CRASH!!! 2 cars HARD in the wall on the back straightaway!"

Clint Bowyer: "Michael McDowell."

Mike Joy: "And Justin Haley."

Clint Bowyer: "Oh, no! He was having such a good race."

Mike Joy: "The AMR safety team quickly to the two drivers. Both of them climb out they appear to be okay."

Kevin Harvick: "Let's see what happened."

The screen then showed a replay of what happened.

Clint Bowyer: "You see McDowell still limping with his power steering issues."

All 3 commentators: "OHH!!!"

Clint Bowyer: "Haley just plowed into the back of him."

Kevin Harvick: "Yeah, I've never seen anything like that before."

Mike Joy: "And here's what Justin Haley said on the radio."

Radio communications from Justin Haley: "The F#ck was he doing? Blocking the track going slow like that."

"He was having power steering issues."

"If that's the case, he should have retired the car. It's not safe to run onto an active race track with slow speed."

Kevin Harvick: "You can't be mean to other drivers, you just can't."

Lap 50

Mike Joy: "Green flag back out, we're racing again!"

Final Lap

Mike Joy: "William Byron down the front straightaway to the checkered flag, he wins at Circuit of the Americas."

Clint Bowyer: "Yes sir."

Kevin Harvick: "Great day by those guys."

"Checkered flag, there you go. P7," Justin Alexander said on Mike's radio.

"Great work today guys," Mike sighed.

--FOX Broadcast--

"William Byron becomes the first repeat winner of the 2024 season. It seems like he is in for another multi-win season like he had last year. We hope you enjoyed our coverage from Austin today. From all of us here at FOX Sports, I'm Mike Joy thank you all for watching and we'll see you next week at Richmond."

As Mike took off his helmet and other race wear, he couldn't help but feel relieved. COTA was his final race for a month. His next race, the IndyCar race at Long Beach, won't be for another month's time. Just then, Rara came in. "You feeling alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, just exhausted," Mike replied.

"Well, that's evident given by how sweaty you are. So, when's your next race?"

"The IndyCar race at Long Beach, which won't be for another month's time."

"Wow, so that means we got another month off," said Rara.

"Yes," said Mike. "And we can probably use that time to work on more songs."

"Hey, I would love it if you stuck around more to work on our songs. I mean it would be better than what we've been doing. Going to races for the past 3 weeks in a row. And by the way, I love that you've been exercising more. I mean, we've already seen each other naked 3 times. First, in the shower. Then, that time we almost made out while changing clothes. And third, our time in the hot tub back at your place."

"What does that have to do with spending more time with you making more songs?" Asked Mike.

"Well, don't get me started on that sweat you built up in this race, because WOW! I've never found more attractive," Rara said while giving Mike a half-lidded gaze and leaning against the wall.

Mike just gave her a playful smile. Just then, his cell phone rang. "Oh, it's my brother."

"John?"

"Yeah." Mike then picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"REALLY?!"

"Alright, we're on our way right now." Mike hung up the phone and looked at Rara.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"They just had their baby," Mike answered.

"What, really?!" Rara replied in excitement.

"Yes, come on let's go."

The two ran to the airport to head back to Nashville.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note

This is a fictionalized version of the 2024 NASCAR race at COTA. If you wanna see what happened in the ACTUAL NASCAR race at COTA, you can do so by watching this video here.