LAS VEGAS, Nev.: Chase Elliott successfully underwent a three-hour surgery Friday night in Colorado to repair a fractured tibia in his left leg, however, the recovery will keep the Hendrick Motorsports driver on the sidelines for “several weeks.”
Elliott injured himself Friday in a snowboarding accident ahead of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports announced that JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry will drive the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro in the third Cup Series race of the season.
The 27-year-old Elliott is expected to be released from the hospital later today.
“There is no timeline at this point,” Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews said regarding the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s return to the race car. “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. 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.”
Andrews said he did not believe Elliott’s situation will force a policy change as far as what their drivers can do in their spare time.
“It won’t force us to reevaluate any policies,” he said. “These guys have to go out and live a life outside of the race track, and certainly what Chase (Elliott) was doing was not anything abnormal for him. He’s an experienced snowboarder. He’s been doing it most of his life and it was an accident. A similar injury could happen falling off a mountain bike or stepping off a curb while you’re jogging.
“It was an accident and Chase feels awful about it. But our stance is just that – it was an accident and our guys have to go out and live their lives. Obviously, both Alex (Bowman) and Kyle (Larson) drive sprint cars. Chase has been in a midget at various times last year. So, I don’t anticipate a policy change at Hendrick Motorsports based around this.”
Hendrick Motorsports has applied for a waiver for Elliott to remain eligible for the Cup Series Playoffs. A decision on whether Elliott’s waiver from NASCAR will be approved likely won’t come until he has been medically cleared to return to competition.
“We have gone through the formal process that NASCAR has in place of applying for the waiver,” added Andrews. “Again, that happened a little over 12 hours ago, so I don’t really know where that goes from there. We’ll certainly let NASCAR go through their due process and we’ll respect their decision when they’re ready to make one on how that decision gets made.”
After two races, the Dawsonville, Ga.-native is 14th in the championship standings.
Berry driving for Hendrick Motorsports affiliate JR Motorsports is a five-time race winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Two of those Xfinity wins have come at the 1.5-mile Nevada venue.
The Hendersonville, Tenn.-native has made two previous starts at the Cup level in 2021 driving for Spire Motorsports at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway respectively.
“First and foremost, obviously we’re thinking about Chase (Elliott). This is his ride and his opportunity,” Berry said Saturday morning. “I’m just thankful that these guys – Mr. Hendrick and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports – thought of me to come fill-in for him in this moment. Without a doubt, it’s going to be a great challenge for me. But a great challenge comes great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a driver, and work around a lot of really great, talented and smart people here at Hendrick Motorsports.”
Berry said that he just hopes to do the best job he can for Hendrick Motorsports in his NextGen debut.
“We’re just taking it one lap at a time, one day at a time,” added Berry. “We don’t really have any expectations at this point. We’re going to try and get through this practice and qualifying session.
“I’m going to race my Xfinity car, and then we’ll meet some more, talk about it and make a plan for tomorrow. But it’s definitely a great honor to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, regardless of the situation, so I’m going to try and do the best I can for these guys.”
Elliott is an 18-time winner and the 2020 champion in the Cup Series. He has reached the Championship 4 in each of the last three seasons. Elliott and the No. 9 team are coming off a runner-up finish at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway last weekend.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at: [email protected].
