NASCAR: Is Chase Elliott back for Bristol dirt race?
By Asher Fair
Chase Elliott isn’t back for Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but his return could very well be right around the corner.
Not many updates have been provided regarding the recovery of Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott following the leg injury he suffered in a Colorado snowboarding accident early last month, and he remains sideline from NASCAR Cup Series competition.
When the injury was publicized, Elliott was immediately ruled out for that weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Following a three-hour surgery, he was ruled out for “several weeks”, and the team eventually stated that they expected him to be out for six weeks.
Elliott is not back for this Easter Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with Josh Berry again filling in for him behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet.
However, there is some good news for Chase Elliott fans as the NASCAR Cup Series season progresses.
Sunday’s race is Elliott’s sixth absence of the season. Should the six-week return timetable hold true, that would put him on track to return for next Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
It is, however, worth mentioning that this six-week estimate — which in itself was always subject to change, since everybody heals differently — was not revealed until after Elliott had already missed a race.
But even if that initial race was not included in that timetable, he could still be set up to return for the race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 23.
Officially, everything is still up in the air, as updates on his condition have been few and far between since the incident happened. Elliott did appear to be in good spirits during his virtual participation in the Fox Sports broadcast booth for the race at Circuit of the Americas two weeks ago.
Next. All-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list. dark
Tune in to Fox at 7:00 p.m. ET on Sunday evening for the live broadcast of the Food City Dirt Race from Bristol Motor Speedway. If you have yet to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so now!