The NASCAR driver fractured his tibia in a snowboarding crash
Chase Elliott is the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion driver. However, he’s not in the car this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hear from Chase Elliott below.
On Friday, Elliott was involved in a snowboarding accident. It resulted in a fractured tibia.
Elliott is an experienced snowboarder. The incident took place while on vacation in Colorado.
The 27-year-old went into surgery on Friday night. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry has been called up from JR Motorsports to pilot the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 this weekend.
The team has stated they don’t intend to place any limits on Elliott continuing to snowboard once he’s recovered.
The surgery went well and Elliott has flown back to his home state of Georgia.
NASCAR has yet to comment in a waiver will be issued. In order to race for a championship, the driver must compete in all events, unless given an exception in special circumstances.
Elliott made the comments just moments before the green flag in Las Vegas.
Chase Elliott out due to snowboarding injury; Surgery scheduled
Chase Elliott makes script joke
In his first public comments since the incident, Elliott brought the jokes.
Chase Elliott stated, “It has come to my attention that the formal request I submitted for a slight edit to the March section of my script was indeed… declined.”
He later added, “In all seriousness, the support I’ve received over the last couple of days is far greater than I deserve. I want to thank everyone who has lended it over in any form! Let’s give Josh Berry and the NAPA Racing team some love today!”
Elliott has won NASCAR’s most popular driver award for the last 5 years.
Fans were quick to play into the joke as the noted lots of wins would be written into the script following the comeback.
Josh Berry has two wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in just four Xfinity starts. He’s run only two NASCAR Cup Series races but this is his first start in the Next Gen car.
When will Chase Elliott return from injury?
“There is no timeline at this point,” Hendrick Motorsports team president and general manager Jeff Andrews.
“We would expect this to obviously be several weeks but beyond that, I don’t have a timeline to offer for you. We will work with Chase and his doctors in the future to help determine that.”
“For Mr. Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports, the most important thing is Chase’s health and his well-being. We’ll work with him on that timeline.”
Andrews added, “We are going to race a long time together with Chase Elliott and we are going to win a lot more races together. Certainly, this is a little bit of a setback and Chase is very disappointed. We’ll have a seat ready for him when he is healthy and ready to get back in a race car.”
Fill-in driver Josh Berry was picked by Chase Elliott
“He shot me a text and just thanked me for helping out,” Berry said.
“I thanked him for thinking of me and considering me for this fill-in position. Chase has been a good friend to me over years. Even dating back to when I would make a couple of Xfinity Series starts years ago at JR Motorsports. He was always one of the first ones to help me whenever I needed it. “
Berry added, “I’m thankful for these guys for giving me this opportunity. I obviously wish him well and going forward, I’ll do whatever these guys need and we’ll take it from there.”
Las Vegas TV Schedule: NASCAR (March 2023)
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Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | NASCAR
