LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, will begin physical therapy Monday, his team owner Rick Hendrick told Fox Sports.
Elliott missed Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which was won by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron.
Elliott had surgery Friday to repair a fractured tibia, and Hendrick said Elliott has returned to his home in Dawsonville, Georgia. Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident Friday. He and his family own a home in Vail, Colorado.
Elliott joked on Twitter “that the formal request I submitted for a slight edit to the March section of my script was indeed… declined.”
“In all seriousness, the support I’ve received over the last couple of days is far greater than I deserve," he posted in a follow-up tweet. “I want to thank everyone who has lended it over in any form!”
Josh Berry took Elliott's seat in the No. 9 Chevy and finished 29th. Hendrick general manager Jeff Andrews said a decision would be made on who drives that car next weekend at Phoenix.
Defending Champ Hits The Wall
Joey Logano, the defending Cup champion who won the Las Vegas race in October, hit the wall in in turn four on lap 183 of Sunday's race, ending his day. He was running three-wide with Brad Keselowski in the middle and Kyle Busch on the apron when Logano bumped into Keselowski, sending his No. 22 Ford into the wall.
“I’m sure (Keselowski) didn’t mean to do it," Logano said. "What are you going to do, right? We got fenced.”
It was a tough day all around for Logano, who was running 15th after starting on the pole.
“Considering how we’ve been here in the past, you kind of expect it a little bit more performance today than what we had,” Logano said. “Just off on overall speed. We had the balance somewhat close, just not fast.”
Wallace Is Top Finishing Non-Hendrick Car
Bubba Wallace, who drives the 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota, finished fourth in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race. He was the top finisher not part of the Hendrick garage.
“It was right there in the top seven or eight the whole time,” Wallace said. “I was going to settle for sixth and the caution came out. My car fired off really, really good (on the restart), the best it had all race.”
No Home Track Advantage
Sunday's first stage wasn't kind to Las Vegas drivers Busch and Noah Gragson. Busch bumped the wall, and Gragson twice was penalized for speeding on pit road. Gragson later was docked a third speeding penalty.
Struggles in his hometown are nothing new for two-time Cup Series champion Busch, whose only top-level win at Las Vegas was in 2009. He was 14th Sunday.
Gragson, a Cup Series rookie, finished 30th.
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series next heads for Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will compete on Saturday at Phoenix.
