LAS VEGAS — NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, will be out of action for several weeks after breaking his leg Friday in a snowboarding accident while vacationing in Colorado.
On Saturday morning an update on Elliott’s injury was provided by Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews.
Andrews said Elliott broke his left tibia Friday and had surgery to repair the dame Saturday morning. The surgery, which Andrews said was successful, lasted three hours.
Josh Berry will replace Elliott in the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Berry drives the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series,
Elliott is expected to miss multiple races while he recovers, and there is currently no timeline for his return, Andrews said. The No. 9 Chevrolet will continue to compete for the owner’s championship, and the organization can apply to NASCAR for a medical waiver that would keep Elliott eligible for the driver’s title.
Berry, 32, has just two Cup starts to his credit, both in 2021, and he has never driven NASCAR’s Next Gen car, introduced into the series last year.
“Without a doubt, it’s going to be a great challenge for me,” Berry said, “but with great challenge comes great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a driver and work around a lot of really talented and smart people here at Hendrick Motorsports.
“So we’re just taking it one lap at a time and one day at a time… We really don’t have any expectations at this point. We’re going to try to get to this practice and qualifying (for the Cup event). I’m going to race my Xfinity car, and then we’ll meet some more and talk about it and make a plan for (Sunday).”
— NASCAR Wire Services’ Reid Spencer contributed to this report
