Chase Elliott made a comeback for the race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday after missing the previous six.
In early March, Elliott was injured while snowboarding and required surgery to repair a fractured tibia in his left leg.
Six weeks went by while he recovered, and things weren’t great when he arrived back at Martinsville.
The 24-time NASCAR Cup winner started the race in the 20th position and finished it in the 20th position.
Later on in the event, though, things started to make sense. Despite starting the last 400 laps of the race in 25th place, he advanced during the second stage.
In the last stint, he made significant gains and moved up to tenth while Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports claimed the victory.
“Yeah, it (the leg) was pretty good, honestly,” said Elliott post-race. “It was about what I expected, so that’s a good thing. It was warm. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything. But our NAPA Chevy, we struggled every run but the last one. 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. 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.”
When questioned what he most regretted while away, Elliott responded, “The people, really. From my peers, to my teammates – that competitive nature of being here and wanting to be better. Really nice to be back and appreciate the warm welcome this weekend by everybody, so I appreciate that. It definitely didn’t go unnoticed.”
With Sunday’s top-ten finish, Elliott moved up in the points standings from 34th to 31st.
Elliott, who most recently won at Talladega Superspeedway, will now compete in the Cup Series there. In a drag race there in November, he prevailed over Ryan Blaney.
Below are some of the most well-known NASCAR drivers’ apparels , all of which are available at reasonable costs. Visit our link now if you are interested in the racing clothing collection:
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, IndyCar, Nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, Nascar 2023, Martinsville Speedway