Livin' on the Down Low

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Summary: Flashy and attention grabbin' ain't the way I wanna live my life.

AUTHOR: Zippit
EMAIL: zippit@cryptoffic.com
RATING: PG-13
CHARACTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr w/mentions of Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr POV
COMPLETED: June 7, 2008
WORD COUNT: 542
DISCLAIMER: If you recognize anyone in this piece, I am in no way affiliated with or know them personally. I am neither making a profit nor plan to do so. This is nothing more than an exercise in fiction. This is a result of an overactive imagination and I claim no truth to these words.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a response to all the media and critics hounding Junior about why he's not running Tony Stewart's charity race, Prelude to the Dream, at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
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Mooresville, North Carolina - June 4th, 2008

Kev and I, we got a deal. It involves avoidance when cameras are around and that ain’t leave us with much left to do. We don’t run in the same circles either, not publicly. We decided a long time ago when we were on the brink of the pressure and the media glare increasing threefold that it wasn’t worth our sanity to subject ourselves to it by hanging out in public.

It’s like him and Stewart. We could be like that, but look how they already shove mine and Tony’s “friendship” down our throats just after some good races drafting together. Me and Kev, we ain’t gotta be like that. Swear Tony just flaunts his friendship with Kev as a method to level out the criticism against himself, a buffer between his critics and their opinions. I don’t need that. I don’t need no one to take the spotlight off me no matter how much I might want it.

We call each other up once a week or so, catch each other when there ain’t any cameras near. It’s why our coaches are parked next to each other in the lot week in and week out. Same in the garages when we can manage it. Like tonight, I could be at Eldora racing on the dirt with the rest of them, but goddamn there’s only so much of being gawked at a man can take. If I showed up, whether I meant to or not, all the attention’d be on me. Hell some of it’s already on me and I ain’t even there. Now that it’s all on HBO, I ain’t as willing.

They’re all hounding me ‘bout how me being there would help get the new Victory Junction Camp get built faster and how I ain’t helping such a good cause. That ain’t my way. I’m not into the flashy, grab attention methods of supporting good causes. I’ll leave that to the likes of Tony and Jeff and Jimmie. Nah, I prefer Daddy’s way any day of the week. I ain’t in it for the glory or the recognition or to rehabilitate an image. I’m in it for me and what I think I needa do to give back as thanks for all I’ve gotten.

I ain’t got no doubt it’s a fucking blast, but I’ll watch on TV tonight and talk to Harvick on Friday. Maybe after I get me some lessons and get in some of Kev’s Spring Flings and Fall Brawls, I’ll show up at Tony’s place and not make an utter fool out of myself. Might even be competitive instead. But that ain’t me right now.

It’s the first time in a damn long time, I’ve enjoyed myself as much as I have in the opening months of a season. Why the hell would I wanna clutter it up with more things to do that only take away from my time off? It ain’t like I still don’t have the schedule from hell. It’s just less hellish than in years past. So no, I ain’t gonna run the Prelude ‘til I damn well want to and on MY own terms. The media can rag on me all they damn want. They ain’t changing my mind anytime soon.

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Zippit - zippit@cryptoffic.com