Edge of the Vortex

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Summary: He's both PR rep and friend, but he's completely helpless in the face of it all.

AUTHOR: Zippit
EMAIL: zippit@cryptoffic.com
RATING: PG
SERIES: Bittersweet Miracles
CHARACTER: Mike Davis, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Eury Jr, w/mentions of Kevin Harvick and Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Mike POV
COMPLETED: June 7, 2008
WORD COUNT: 1,332
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 new voice for me, but he called to be part of this verse. Hope you enjoy!
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Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, Nevada - January 28th, 2008

I worry about the guy. He’s running himself into the ground, doing things he doesn’t have to, things that Kevin should be doing himself. Dale already has so much on his plate and yet here he is taking on everything Harvick can get out of. His sponsors are getting a bargain with June taking his place, even if his fans are disappointed. June does his best to make up for not being the person they want to see, but it’s hard to understand why he does it, especially when you get those “fans” that hate June on sight. I don’t understand how he doesn’t just walk out at some of the things they spew at him.

Sometimes I wonder where all this patience comes from during the appearances because as the weeks have ticked by some of that laid back demeanor has begun to crumble with the rest of us. Snapping at small things that would’ve only brought sarcastic quips before, moments taken to rein in that inherited fury, moments in which I wonder where the guy I’ve come to know the past few years has disappeared to.

Then there’s this new thing where when someone asks a question about Kevin and the babies, June gets very tight lipped and tries to change the topic as fast as possible. It might be because he doesn’t want anyone to know how much he’s really doing behind the scenes, but I think there’s more. I just know there is. I know better than to push. Jade’s warned me never to get on the bad side of an Earnhardt. The temper’s rooted deep in that last name just like the iron willed determination and it’s just a matter of what will trigger it. I’m here for when he finally decides to unload. I just hope it’s soon.

Walk around on top of the hauler as the car goes round the track, smacking a closed fist against my palm and wonder at how the job of a PR rep is equal parts insanity and complete boredom. I fly with June nearly everywhere for all he has to do. I’m the one making sure everything goes right at appearances for everyone’s sake. There’s no doubt in my mind June could take care of himself, but we can’t have reports of him clashing with sponsors if something isn’t how it should be. We’ve seen enough of them try to take advantage of him over the years with overbooking what we told them he was willing to do or trying to stall him into staying longer by guilting him about the fans he’d be turning away. He does enough of that himself, taking time out to be more accessible to the fans than nearly anyone else. He doesn’t need to have more appearances heaped on him. I juggle his schedule. I juggle his life, from what time he gets off to where and what he has to do. Somehow I just want to make it so he doesn’t have to do so much.

Glance at Tony Junior, headset on and pivoting with the car as it travels around the track, and wonder what he must think of all of this. His cousin wrapped up in someone else’s life so much that he’s begun to lose himself. Tony Junior’s married. He knows that warmth of family Dale’s lacking in his life and I wonder if that’s what Dale’s trying to find with Kevin or if it’s something else entirely. I wonder what Tony Junior sees when he looks at Dale. I’ll probably never know. Does he see what I’m missing? I doubt he’ll tell me if Dale hasn’t because family’s family and this one knows how to close ranks to protect their own.

The flash of double eights pulling off the track has me moving for the ladder. Junior hasn’t said much all day other than stuff about the car and I wonder how much is focus on the test session and how much is plain exhaustion?

He’s at the hospital more often than I care to think about. The constantly updated Harvick blog tell us that. He’s also taken to updating his own blog just as frequently as he does Kevin’s entries. He always talks about what’s going on, what he’s done. Looking back on all those entries, all the things he’s alluded to…I’m not sure how he does it.

It’s a long drive from Kernersville to Charlotte and I know he makes that trip several times a week. I know about the place at Clint’s and I know from Kelley he’s never home. He’s either at Clint’s, the hospital, or KHI. It’s irritated Kelley to no end though I know it’s only because she worries about him. She’s looked out for Dale her whole life and she may not have agreed with him every time, but she understood his choices. She doesn’t understand this at all because he’s fighting her. He’s not listening to a thing she says. He’s just going out and doing what he thinks is best and if that includes running himself ragged so be it.

Like tomorrow, we’ll be testing a “Nationwide” car for the team that by all rights is our rival and not some pet project of his. The media will hardly bat an eye when June slides into a KHI car because of the spin we put on the whole deal. Add in some Earnhardt charm and anything’s possible. That charm can hide a lot too like the exhaustion that has to be catching up to him. He’s been lucky so far, keeping it at bay with an excessive amount of AMP, but how long can that really last?. Move toward the back of the garage bay and stay out of the way of the crew scurrying around to get the adjustments Tony Junior called for on the car.

Not only is he contending with his always busy schedule and running KHI, he’s also trying to keep Harvick sane. June mentioned something about a poker game to get Kevin’s mind off being so far from Charlotte.  I don’t know where he finds the time to even think of things like that. All we’ve recently known is appearance after appearance, a brief stop at home, then back to the track. I wonder how I’m not as exhausted as he is and it’s probably because I’m not the one actively turning on the charm or hiding behind a media mask all the time.

Wait to the side of the pit box and chat with the crew between appearances of the car in the garage while I wonder how the KHI crew is adjusting to June. They’re used to Kevin’s attitude, his way of doing things with DeLana’s steadying hand on the whole thing, and now here’s June, stepping in to keep it all together. This is only the third test session in a nonstop barrage and I wonder if they’ll warm up to him as the year progresses. He’s going to be around whether they like it or not, June’s made that perfectly clear, and it’d be easier on everyone if they didn’t see him as the enemy. He wants to see these teams succeed and I’m not sure if he wants it for Kevin or because his competitive spirit’s been aroused. He wants KHI to be the best it can be just like he wants that for JRM. But how long before the guys at JRM resent June for not being around? How long before they resent him for helping the competition out instead?

It’s a fine line he’s walking and I hope he can find a balance. No one’s going to accept him dedicating himself solely to KHI. Our sponsors won’t have it and soon enough the personal toll is going to force Dale’s hand.  At some point he’s going to have to make a decision and I just hope the fall out doesn’t take us all down with him.

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Zippit - zippit@cryptoffic.com