Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace recently shared his thoughts on Chase Elliott’s snowboarding accident that has him indefinitely out of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.
Chase Elliott via NASCAR YouTube
Elliot injured his leg during a snowboarding accident ahead of the race at Las Vegas Speedway with Hendrick Motorsports announcing Elliott suffered an ““injury to his left leg today while snowboarding in Colorado. He is scheduled to undergo surgery this evening.”
The team later revealed “Elliott underwent a successful surgery on a fractured tibia on Friday night.”
They added, “Elliott is doing well following the three-hour surgery and is expected to be released from the hospital later today.”
Chase Elliott via Noah Lewis YouTube
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As for when he might be able to get back in the car, Hendrick Motorsports Team President and General Manager Jeff Andrews said, “There is no timeline at this point. We would expect this to obviously be several weeks but beyond that, I don’t have a timeline to offer for you. We will work with Chase and his doctors in the future to help determine that.”
Andrews added, “For Mr. Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports, the most important thing is Chase’s health and his well-being. We’ll work with him on that timeline. We are going to race a long time together with Chase Elliott and we are going to win a lot more races together. Certainly, this is a little bit of a setback and Chase is very disappointed. We’ll have a seat ready for him when he is healthy and ready to get back in a race car.”
Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott race to the end of Stage 1 in the Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway via NASCAR YouTube
Wallace shared his thoughts on Elliott’s accident telling his brother, Kenny Wallace, “Well, I mean, it happens. Stuff like that happens. I mean you can’t stop living life. You got to have some fun, that’s for sure.”
He continued, “Obviously, he’s a pretty good snowboarder and he spent a lot of time doing that so something just freak happened. I don’t have anything against him for what he’s doing. It’ll heal up. And he’ll still be eligible for a championship, I’m pretty sure. It’s happened in the past with other drivers.”
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Wallace then said, “So, yeah I know what you’re saying, ‘Hey, you’re the leader of the team. The whole team’s relying on you and you go out and get hurt and now you kind of let your team down.’ Well, that’s true, but my opinion is it’s over now.
“You can debate it all you want and stuff like that, but man if somebody told me I can’t do what I love doing I’d have a problem with it. So I hope it heals up real fast and I don’t have anything against him for going and having some fun, but it just didn’t work out did it,” he concluded.
Kenny Wallace then shared his brief thoughts as well saying, “My thought is like Rusty’s. You cannot quit living life.”
Kenny Wallace and Rusty Wallace via Kenny Wallace YouTube
What do you make of Rusty Wallace’s reaction to Elliott breaking his leg during a snowboarding incident?
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