Chase Elliott did not compete in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after a snowboarding accident that fractured his left tibia last Friday in Colorado. Elliott, 27, will miss several weeks and possibly longer with the injury.
Hendrick Motorsports replaced the injured driver with Josh Berry, a driver for JR Motorsports, at Las Vegas as he brought the No. 9 car home with a 29th-place finish. Since the race on Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports has been trying to figure out Elliott’s replacement.
Jimmie Johnson should be Hendrick Motorsports’ top choice on paper but it is not clear if they are interested or if the seven-time champion himself would want to do it. However, we now have a general idea of when Elliott could return after a recent report.
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Chase Elliott’s timeline for returning to NASCAR has been reported
Hendrick Motorsports held a press conference on Saturday during the weekend of the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and revealed many details that were not known following the announcement of Elliott’s injury.
Jeff Andrews, President of Hendrick Motorsports, said that Elliott had a three-hour surgery after the accident and that he had no timeline for a possible return. While similar injuries to NASCAR drivers have been longer than a month, only the term “several weeks” was used.
However, Jordan Bianchi, a NASCAR insider for The Athletic, went on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast and revealed what he has heard about a potential return date for Elliott. It gels pretty well with what the NASCAR community has been assuming.
According to Bianchi, he has heard that Elliott could miss anywhere from six to 10 weeks as he recovers from his fractured tibia that was suffered last week. This means he would only compete in 25-29 races during the 2023 NASCAR season overall.
If the lowest missed time for Elliott ended up being six weeks, his first race back in the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports would be on April 23 at Talladega Superspeedway. It may not be the best race to return to as that represents a high-speed, superspeedway race track.
If Elliott were to miss up to 10 weeks, he would not return until May 21 at the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. This means his first points-paying race would be on May 28 at the Coca-Cola 600.
Either way, Elliott will miss Phoenix, Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond, Bristol Dirt, and Martinsville if he is out a minimum of six weeks. A majority of those are strong tracks for the No. 9 team.
Stay tuned for the latest updates on Elliott’s injury recovery as he looks to heal and return to NASCAR as soon as he is cleared by doctors.