Chase Elliott has no plans to stop snowboarding after Colorado accident that sidelined him for six races

The No:9 team has been consistent in the absence of Elliott, thanks to the impressive performance behind the wheels from Josh Berry and Jordan Tayler.


Chase Elliott has no plans to stop snowboarding after Colorado accident that sidelined him for six races

Chase Elliott

2020 NASCAR Cup series champion Chase Elliott who has been out of racing for the last Cup races, will mark his return to the series at Martinsville. Last year’s regular-season champion got a medical waiver from the sanctioning body, making him eligible for the playoff. He has to win to be eligible for the Chase and has 18 races left.

Elliott’s accident caused serious discussions in the NASCAR community about drivers’ activities outside the track. The fans were divided on whether to allow the stars of each team to be involved in potentially dangerous activities that could jeopardize the team’s progress. While the majority of the team owners didn’t give a public statement, the ones who spoke, mostly owner-drivers or retired drivers, claimed that drivers are allowed to live their life the way they want to.

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Elliott is an experienced snowboarder, and the accident was just a perfect storm and had nothing to do with him doing something wild. Hence, the most popular driver on the grid has no plans to stop activities he loves, and that gives him the necessary distraction from the hectic NASCAR schedule. He said he would keep enjoying his life.

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I feel like you have to enjoy your life and go do things that are a nice … escape from this every week. There’s a lot that goes into racing, and I think you have to have that way to escape and give your mind a rest. The accident could have happened tripping downstairs or on a jog. Snowboarding is something that I’ve been doing for a long time. I am comfortable doing it. It’s one of those things I’ve used as a training tool over the years — no different than riding bikes,” said Chase Elliott.

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Chase Elliott is going to race in some of his most productive tracks

Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott

The No:9 driver has chosen the right time to make a comeback if he is fully fit and confident. The upcoming 4 races will be at Martinsville, Talladega, Dover, and Kansas. He has won at least one race on these tracks.  He has won twice at Talladega and Dover, and the second set of wins came last season. It will be a big confidence booster for him. The race at Talladega will be a challenge, considering the risks of heavy impacts.

While asked about it he said, “No, I honestly didn’t even know that. That’s a good question and a good thought, but that didn’t go into my decision. When all of this happened and just in talking to the doctor and things post-surgery, I knew it would be about this time,”.

I knew it was going to be around Martinsville or Talladega, which frankly, I don’t think would have been my first two choices if I could have picked them based on the braking pressure at Martinsville and obviously your risk of high impact at Talladega. But yeah, things progressed really well. All of the decisions were based off direction directly from the surgeon, doctors, and everyone that has been involved this whole time,” Elliott added.

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