NASCAR‘s reigning “Most Popular Driver,” Chase Elliott, underwent surgery after suffering a leg injury in a snowboarding accident.
Chase Elliott suffered a fractured left tibia while snowboarding in Colorado. He underwent a successful three-hour surgery Friday night, and will miss this weekend’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas.
Elliott, a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, will be “out for several weeks” due to the injury, according to Hendrick Motorsports’ President and General Manager Jeff Andrews.
Chase Elliott will be out for “several weeks” after suffering a fractured tibia while snowboarding in Colorado. He is expected to be released from the hospital this morning, says Hendrick’s Jeff Andrews. pic.twitter.com/3eWgwEKcLE
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 4, 2023
In a statement posted to the Hendrick Motorsports website, Andrews shared that there is no timeline for Elliott’s return to the track.
“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.” Andrews added, “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.”
Who is Chase Elliott?
Chase Elliott is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series. He was born on November 28, 1995, in Dawsonville, Georgia, and is the son of former NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott.
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Elliott began his racing career in 2012 and quickly made a name for himself, winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship in 2014. The win made him the first rookie to ever win a national series championship, and the youngest to do so. In 2020, Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series championship, becoming the third-youngest driver to win that title. He has also won numerous races throughout his career and is considered one of the top young talents in NASCAR.
In 2022, he was named the winner of the 2022 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award in the NASCAR Cup Series for the fifth year in a row.
“For me, obviously, I came into a very fortunate situation,” Elliott said. “Dad had a great connection with the fans, and beyond him, I look at the connection as really an extension of his career and my uncles and my grandfather and just kind of the path and the work ethic that they had to be able to get to where they did and to achieve the goals they did.”
Watch the full press conference regarding Chase Elliott’s accident and how it affects his future in NASCAR below.