Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The day after their return, Denny Hamlin sat in his crew chief, Mike Ford's office, awaiting their end-of-season meeting at the Joe Gibbs Racing facility. He had his feet propped up on Mike's desk and was leaned back in his chair, relaxing when he heard the door open behind him. Knowing that Mike REALLY didn't like it when he put his shoes on the desk, he quickly pulled them off, nearly toppling his chair over backwards. "Ahh!" he cried out, grabbing the desk to try to regain his balance. Once stable, he turned around to see not his veteran crew chief but rather Kyle Busch standing there.

The smirk on Kyle's face told Denny his sometimes slightly derranged teammate had something on his mind.

"What?" Denny asked, crossing his arms. Kyle continued starring with a smirk. "Kyle, what is your problem?" Kyle reached into his pocket and drew out a brocure. He tossed it into Denny's lap. "Winter retreat?" Denny read the title aloud. "What do you think?" Kyle said, finally breaking his silence. "Looks cool, have fun. After that stunt you pulled in Vegas, make sure Samantha doesn't get you anywhere near the wood stove."

Kyle snickered. "No no no, Denny-boy, I mean you and me and Logano. A little 'Man's Retreat.'" "Man's retreat? You just said Joey would be there." "Hey he's got to grow up sometime. A few days with us in the wilderness'll do the trick. I got it all planned out. We'll leave the girls behind and go be men, be in the wilderness in that cabin."

Denny pondered for a moment. "She kicked you out, again, didn't she?" "Yep."

Denny laughed and threw the brocure to Kyle's feet and turned back around. "Come on man, it might be fun," Kyle said, closing the door and hopping up and sitting down on the edge of Mike's desk. "And besides, you and Logano both owe me after that pumpkin business."

"Hey, that was ALL Joey," Denny retorted. "Oh, it was ALL Joey? Who was the one barking orders Mr. Elder Driver at Joe Gibbs Racing?" "Whatever, Kyle," Denny blew him off, but Kyle continued. "Tony specifically told us not to go to that pasture. What were the first words out of your mouth?" He jumped up, stretched his arm out, and pointed, showingly.

"To the pasture!"

"So what?" Denny said, becoming gradually more and more irritated. "So what?! I think I got a slipped disk or something from that stuff in the shed." "Why don't you get Samantha to fix that for you?" Denny said with a smirk of his own.

Kyle grunted and sat back down on the edge of the desk. "Come on, Denny. Lets try it for a few days." "Kyle, male bonding with you is not my idea of a good time." "Here, tell what," Kyle said. "I'll pay the up-front cost for you and Joey to stay there, and then if you two don't enjoy it, I'll pay the total cost."

"Dude, if we did that, you know I'll just say I didn't enjoy it even if I did to make you pay for it," Denny replied. Kyle grumbled. "But okay, I'll THINK about it," Denny said. "Great, I'll call and make the arrangements right now!" Kyle said, reaching for the phone on Mike's desk. "I said I'd THINK about it. I even emphasised THINK, Kyle. THINK. I know that's a foreign concept to you, but still." "You can THINK about it while we're on the way," Kyle said as he picked up the reciever.

Right about then the door opened again. "KYLE. YOU GOT 2.6 SECONDS TO GE OFF MY DESK!" "2.6?" Kyle asked, looking at Denny quizically. "He's a crew chief," Denny sighed.

Doing as he was told, Kyle hopped off. He slapped Denny on the shoulder. "This is gonna be a blast, dude." "Oh yeah, I can't wait," Denny replied without a trace of enthusiasm as Kyle left the office.