At Long Last…

Most of you who know me or even if you just have me on social media, know that Kasey Kahne is my favorite NASCAR driver. He has been since his rookie year in 2004.

Essentially, we all want to meet our favorite drivers, right? When I was 9 years old, I almost met him. I called his name and he started walking over to me, but security pulled him away. Nine year old me was devastated. Fast forward to 2016 and even April of 2017. I was still trying to meet him. I got so close. There were times when he was a foot away from me but I was never able to meet him and it sucked. I would see all these people posting pictures with him their FIRST time at a race, or I’d see people posting pictures with their favorite drivers, and it upset me because I kept wondering when my time was going to come.

So now let’s fast forward to August 2017. The 18th to be exact. It was the weekend of the Bristol night race, and I had flown to Charlotte that Friday and driven to Tennessee. I was so stoked because it was my first time at Bristol and my first time with a hot pass. However, as soon as we got to Tennessee, I received devastating news that my grandpa had passed away in a fire. They kept his heart beating until he got to the hospital, and it stopped when he got there. They did chest compressions but there came a point where they realized they were doing more damage than they were good, so they had to make the decision to let him go. Keep in mind, his wife (my grandma) passed away last year from Alzheimer’s. I spent the last year and a half of HER life working at the assisted living home she lived at so I could take care of her.

My grandpa meant everything to me. I’ve lived 100 yards away from him my entire life. When my mom and dad weren’t home, him and my grandma were taking care of us. He has played a huge role in my growing up and becoming who I am today, and my heart is crushed that we lost him the way we did. So how does this relate to NASCAR and Kasey Kahne, you ask?

Well, when we got the news about my grandpa, we got the next available flight home, but it wasn’t until Saturday morning. So we decided to go down to the track for the Xfinity race and get our hot passes just to get our minds off of everything. So we did. And what happened is something I will never forget. After 13 years of trying and getting so close to meeting Kasey, it finally happened. The day I wasn’t trying. The day meeting him wasn’t even on my mind, I randomly ran into him in the tunnel going down to the pits. He was the ONLY Cup driver I saw that night, right after finding out my grandpa had passed away so tragically.

He wasn’t looking up, but I recognized him and called his name. He stopped for a picture, and was so willing and sweet about it. It has been the good in these dark days and I know it will continue to be in the upcoming months ahead because after 13 years, I finally met my favorite driver. For some, meeting your favorite driver is just that, meeting your favorite driver. But for me, it was a reaffirmation of faith in the hardest time of my life. Call it what you want…fate, a coincidence, divine intervention. But I fully believe there was a reason that I didn’t meet Kasey Kahne until that day, and I know my grandpa would have been so excited for me.