NASCAR: How many more races will Chase Elliott miss?

Chase Elliott remains sidelined from NASCAR Cup Series competition with a broken leg he suffered in a Colorado snowboarding accident.

When it was publicized back in early March that Chase Elliott had suffered a serious leg injury in a Colorado snowboarding accident, he was immediately ruled out for the following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry named his replacement.

During that weekend, it was announced that Elliott had broken his left tibia, resulting in him undergoing a three-hour surgery. An exact timetable wasn’t announced at the time, but he was said to be sidelined for “several weeks”.

It was later revealed that Hendrick Motorsports were expecting to be without the full-time driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet for six races.

They confirmed Berry as his replacement for all of the oval races during his absence, and they confirmed that three-time IMSA SportsCar Championship champion Jordan Taylor would replace him for the road course race at Circuit of the Americas.

Chase Elliott has now been sidelined for five straight NASCAR Cup Series races, including this afternoon’s race at Richmond Raceway.

There haven’t been a ton of updates on Elliott’s road to recovery, which is hopefully a “no news is good news” type of thing.

If his initial missed start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is included in the six-week timetable, even though that timetable wasn’t revealed until several days after that race, then he could return as early as Sunday, April 16 at Martinsville Speedway. If not, then he could return as early as Sunday, April 23 at Talladega Superspeedway.

These two races are the season’s ninth and 10th races, respectively. Unless he is ahead of schedule on his road to recovery, which isn’t completely out of the question since everybody heals differently, then he probably won’t compete in the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Easter Sunday, April 9.

NASCAR has not yet revealed whether or not Elliott will be granted a playoff waiver, but all signs point to him being given one, given NASCAR’s history when it comes to drivers unexpectedly being sidelined for a race or races.

Hendrick Motorsports applied for one on the same weekend Elliott was injured. It would be highly irregular if he doesn’t end up with one. A waiver would allow him to remain eligible to qualify for the postseason, despite not running every race on the regular season schedule.