Chase Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident and remains in recovery after surgery
On Friday, it was announced that Chase Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident. The incident took place while on vacation in Colorado.
He suffered from a fractured tibia. The same day, Elliott went into surgery.
For Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Josh Berry drove the No. 9 machine. He was originally listed on the entry list for this weekend in Phoenix as well though that has since been updated with ‘To Be Announced.’
It remains unclear when Elliott will be able to get back in the car.
Elliott is the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Could he still battle for a championship in 2023?
In order to race for a championship, drivers must run every event scheduled in the season. However, there are exceptions.
Kyle Busch was given one of these waivers after suffering an injury in the first race weekend in Daytona several years ago. In that situation, Busch came back to win the championship.
In another situation, Tony Stewart injured his leg in a sprint car crash before the NASCAR season started. He then came back with a waiver to battle for a championship.
Will Chase Elliott be granted a waiver? NASCAR commented on that situation this week…
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NASCAR comments on Chase Elliott
“We’re still in the very early stages of this,” Elton Sawyer stated via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“I cant emphasize this enough. Our focus as an industry is to make sure Chase gets healthy and he’s ready to come back.”
“Once he’s medically cleared. We’re looking at the process today. I wouldn’t see any reason that he wouldn’t be granted the waiver but we’ll go through that process and make sure we’re checking all the boxes.”
“This isn’t uncharted water for us as a sanctioning body. A very similar situation to Tony Stewart, a few years back. Tony was injured in a sprint car race in the pre-season. The waiver wasn’t granted until, I think April. Then, he was cleared to come back, at I think Richmond.”
“We’ll work closely with our folks as well as the folks at Hendrick Motorsports to get Chase back as quick as possible.”
Chase Elliott out due to snowboarding injury; Surgery scheduled
Links
Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | NASCAR
