Hendrick Motorsports suffered a big blow Friday morning when it was announced 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott was reportedly hurt in a snowboarding accident in Colorado and will miss Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
According to reports, Elliott suffered an injury to his left leg. Neither the team nor NASCAR have revealed what type of injury it is, but it apparently was severe enough that Elliott was scheduled to undergo surgery at a hospital Friday evening.
With little time to find a replacement, Team Hendrick announced that it will have Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry, who races for J.R. Motorsports -- which is co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and serves as somewhat of a defacto affiliate to HMS -- as Elliott's replacement behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet during practice and qualifying Saturday, as well as Sunday's race.
In a statement on NASCAR.com, team owner Rick Hendrick said, “Chase’s health is our primary concern. He’s spoken with several members of our team and is understandably disappointed to miss time in the car. Of course, he has our full support, and we’ll provide any resources he needs. We hope to share another update later this weekend.”
This will be the first race the 27-year-old Dawsonville, Ga., native has missed in his Cup career after making 254 consecutive starts since his first full-time season in 2016. The son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, the younger Elliott has 18 wins in his Cup career and 12 poles. He's also qualified for the NASCAR Cup playoffs each of his seven full-time seasons. In addition to his championship in 2020, he's also reached the Championship 4 finals the last two seasons.
HMS officials are slated to hold a press conference Saturday morning at Noon ET to give an update on Elliott's surgery, his condition and hopefully to offer more details on how he suffered his injury. For Elliott or HMS fans who want to watch the press conference, it will be streamed live on NASCAR.com.
Elliott is NASCAR Cup's Most Popular Driver for the last five years running.
It's unclear whether the younger Elliott has any stipulations in his contract with HMS that prevent what some might consider risky behavior. There are a number of NASCAR drivers who do have stipulations in their contracts prohibiting risky behavior such as riding a motorcycle, piloting a plane or helicopter, etc.
As for Berry, he is a five-time winner in the Xfinity Series, with two of those victories coming at Las Vegas. He also has two prior Cup appearances in his career, both coming last season for Spire Motorsports, finishing 30th at Dover and 26th at Michigan.
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