NASCAR Cup Series star Chase Elliott will miss this Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after undergoing successful surgery on his left leg Friday night.
Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, injured his leg in a snowboarding accident in Colorado. Team owner Rick Hendrick told the AP in a statement that Elliott was “just out of surgery” and “it went well.” He didn’t further elaborate on Elliott’s condition.
Josh Berry, an Xfinity Series regular, will drive the No. 9 car and make his third Cup Series start in Elliott’s absence. He ran two races for Spire Motorsports in 2021. Elliott will need a waiver from NASCAR in order to be eligible for the playoffs due to missing the race. Hendrick emphasized that Elliott’s health was the primary concern.
“Chase’s health is our primary concern,” Hendrick said. “He’s spoken with several members of our team and is understandably disappointed to miss time in the car. Of course, he has our full support and we’ll provide any resources he needs.”
Elliott, 27, is in his eighth full season in the Cup Series. He’s taken the checkered flag 18 times in 259 starts and finished 2022 as the regular season champion. He finished as runner-up to Kyle Busch this past Sunday in the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
Chase Elliott ‘Proud’ of Team Effort After P2 Finish in Pala Casino 400
Elliott said he was proud of his team’s performance at Fontana.
“Just really proud of our team,” Elliott said after the race, “we obviously didn’t run very good there towards the end of the year last year. Everybody really went to work hard over the winter just trying to get better.”
“I think we still have some work to do but it was really nice to just see a lot of that hard work just pay off and have the car driving like we were wanting it to do. That’s always a good thing. I appreciate everybody’s effort, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. Congratulations to Kyle. For him to leave and go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been good to me so happy for them.”
