(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — An exhausted Chase Elliott got out of his car and took a seat on the pit road pavement. Six weeks ago, he sat on his couch in Colorado, days removed from a broken tibia in a snowboarding accident.
After extensive rehabilitation, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion returned to the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway and drove it to a 10th-place result. Typically, the 27-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia wouldn’t celebrate that result, but smiled under the circumstances
“It was pretty good, honestly. It was about what I expected, so that’s a good thing,” Elliot said after the race about the condition of his leg. “It was warm. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything.”
For most of the race, Elliott struggled to gain any positive momentum. He finished outside the top 20 in both stages, blaming the struggles on the handling of his race car and not his leg.
Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit under caution with 57 laps to go, and that’s when Elliott’s fortune started to change. With four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, Elliott improved from 22nd to 10th over the course of the final run to notch his second top 10 in three starts this season.
(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
“We finally got it going there at the end and I was able to make some passes and do things that I didn’t really think I’d be capable of doing, or at least of us fixing it to that degree here at the race track,” Elliott said. “So I was pleasantly surprised by that. Got us a top-10 out of our first day back, so that’s definitely something to not be too bummed about.”
Elliott managed to score his 10th top 10 in 16 tries at “The Paperclip” with his comeback result. Though he had a solid day — earning 27 points — Elliott will likely have to win a race to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
While a victory could be around the corner, HMS celebrated Elliott’s return and result.
“We didn’t have the best race car today, and he and Alan fought all day long together,” said Jeff Andrews, HMS team president and general manager. “Chase stayed obviously with Alan and the team and worked hard all day long, and at the end there that thing came to life and seeing him battle his way back up there to a top ten.
“It’s great to have him back. From that aspect, it’s the first weekend for us to kind of have our team or have the band, so to speak, put back together. We haven’t all been back together since Fontana for various reasons.”
Elliott moves onto Talladega Superspeedway next weekend, a track he’s won at twice in his career. But before doing so, he’s taking in the moment of returning back to racing.
“From my peers, to my teammates – that competitive nature of being here and wanting to be better,” Elliott explained. “Really nice to be back and appreciate the warm welcome this weekend by everybody, so I appreciate that. It definitely didn’t go unnoticed.
