Chase Elliott rarely shows much emotion, so maybe it’s no surprise that he says he didn’t get overly dramatic when he knew he had broken his leg snowboarding last month.
Elliott, who will return to racing this weekend at Martinsville Speedway six weeks after the March 3 accident in Colorado, indicated he tried to be pragmatic in the hours following the injury.
“I tried not to be dramatic about it,” Elliott said about conversations with team owner Rick Hendrick. “I just told him like it was. I knew my knee was messed up.
“I can’t say I ever had the thought of not walking again. I didn’t think it was that severe. I think it could have been a lot worse. But I certainly knew that it wasn’t right and that it was going to probably take surgery.”
He knew he would miss races but didn’t let his mind go to the point of wondering whether his season was over.
“I was just hoping for the best, but whatever it was going to be it was going to be,” Elliott said. “It was done at that point, right?
“So I was more just thinking about tackling what it was and doing what the doctors told me to do to get back to get back to 100 percent as soon as I could.”
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Elliott has been snowboarding for most of his life as his family has a home in Vail. He said he would continue snowboarding and enjoying life, that a driver needs to do that to remain mentally ready to race.
“Snowboarding is something that I’ve been doing for a long time. I’m comfortable doing it, and I wasn’t out doing anything that was wild or crazy,” said Elliott, indicating it was just a rough landing. “I don’t have a cool story to tell. It was just that perfect storm that could happen at any point in time.
“It’s one of those things that I’ve used as a training tool over the years, no different than riding bikes. I just don’t agree with that viewpoint of, ‘Well you shouldn’t have been doing this or you shouldn’t have been doing that.’ I feel like I make decisions with my career in mind first. I always have, and this was no different.”
Chase Elliott on snowboarding accident
In his first public comments after breaking his leg snowboarding last month, Chase Elliott describes his emotions and thoughts in the hours after the accident.
The 27-year-old Elliott had surgery the night of the accident in Vail at The Steadman Clinic, a U.S. Olympic National Medical Center. He spent about four weeks rehabbing there before going home to Georgia.
Elliott said he has no additional surgeries scheduled.
“I had surgery on my tibia in a couple different places,” he said. “I have a few screws in the top of my tibia there — it’s really more knee located than it is lower leg.
“The rehab has been pretty standard for that type of injury. It’s not an uncommon injury by any means and certainly could have been a lot worse. Fortunately, there were no ACL tear or meniscus or any of that.”
He now returns at Martinsville, the shortest track on the circuit and one that will challenge him as he brakes with his left foot. He spent part of Tuesday and Wednesday in a racing simulator to see if his leg could handle the constant hard braking required at the track.
Elliott will have Josh Berry, who filled in for five of the six races during Elliott’s absence, on standby in case he is in too much pain. NASCAR does not allow drivers to take any painkillers that could impede their focus.
“I wouldn’t go this weekend if I didn’t feel like I could do it,” Elliott said. “And ultimately, that’s my decision. … I’m to a point now where the integrity of the bones are to a point where I’m not going to hurt it.
“It’s just about building that strength back and getting to the point where you’re comfortable enough with your range of motion and things of that nature to get in there and do a good job.”
Chase Elliott describes his injury
Chase Elliott details his leg injury and says he shouldn’t need any additional surgeries because there were no tears.
He knows it won’t be easy.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t going to be tough — it’s going to be tough,” Elliott said. “I was non-weight-bearing for a number of weeks. … I felt really good driving [in the simulator].”
NASCAR has granted Elliott, voted the sport’s most popular driver in each of the past five years and an 18-time Cup race winner, a waiver to remain eligible for the playoffs despite not competing in every race. Currently 134 points behind the playoff cutoff with 18 races left in the regular season, Elliott could mathematically point his way into the playoffs but most likely will have to win a race to qualify.
“I haven’t even looked at the points,” Elliott said. “I have no idea how far back we are. … We are in a position where we’re going to have to win.
“That’s at least how I’m looking at it.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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