NASCAR celebrity Chase Elliott had profitable surgical procedure for an unspecified damage to his left leg Friday evening, hours after a snowboarding accident in Colorado.

He’ll miss this weekend’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas.

Staff proprietor Rick Hendrick informed The Related Press on Friday evening that Elliott was “simply out of surgical procedure” and “it went nicely.” Hendrick gave no extra particulars about Elliott’s situation or the accident.

Hendrick is NASCAR’s winningest automobile proprietor and Elliott is NASCAR’s hottest driver. The eighth-year driver had by no means missed a Cup Sequence begin beforehand.

Josh Berry will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet on Sunday rather than Elliott.

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Elliott would wish a waiver from NASCAR to be eligible for this 12 months’s playoffs as a result of he is lacking a race. NASCAR has granted waivers to drivers for a wide range of medical and non-medical causes.

“Chase’s well being is our main concern,” Hendrick stated. “He is spoken with a number of members of our workforce and is understandably upset to overlook time within the automobile. In fact, he has our full assist and we’ll present any sources he wants.”

There have been no Cup Sequence occasions scheduled in Las Vegas on Friday, when the accident occurred. Follow and qualifying is about for Saturday afternoon.

Elliott is a second-generation driver and the son of NASCAR Corridor of Famer Invoice Elliott. The Georgia native is NASCAR’s five-time fan-voted hottest driver.

Elliott was runner-up to Kyle Busch final week at Fontana, California. He was a part of a crash within the season-opening Daytona 500.

Las Vegas is the third race of the season. Berry is a two-time winner within the Xfinity sequence at Las Vegas and is the defending Xfinity winner. Berry additionally will race Saturday for Hendrick affiliate JR Motorsports.

Elliott is part of NASCAR’s shrinking group of true superstars and was signed to a developmental deal by Hendrick when he was 14 years outdated.

He blossomed right into a bona fide elite racer and received the Cup title in 2020. The 27-year-old has 18 profession Cup victories and has superior into the championship finale the final three consecutive years.

The damage comes at a time when Hendrick dramatically shifted his stance on the extracurricular actions. He was a agency believer in that his drivers couldn’t race in different sequence or partake in daredevil conduct for concern of damage.

However he did an entire U-turn after signing Kyle Larson for 2021. Larson runs at small tracks all around the nation and persuaded Hendrick to not pressure him to stop.

In truth, Hendrick is even partnering with McLaren and Chevrolet to enter Larson within the Indianapolis 500. The deal has been introduced for 2024, however the AP has realized it’s a two-year deal that features the 2025 race.

Hendrick the previous two years additionally has entered a automobile within the IMSA sports activities automobile sequence endurance races and in June goes to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of a particular venture with NASCAR. Elliott was considered a contender for a seat within the historic entry, however NASCAR has a conflicting race weekend and Elliott has at all times stated he would not miss a Cup race.

Hendrick’s place opened the door for all 4 Hendrick drivers to start out racing different occasions, and Elliott has taken the provide.

Elliott’s snowboarding accident, nonetheless, occurred throughout a bodily exercise, and it is not publicly recognized what he can and might’t do underneath his Hendrick contract.

As soon as he relaxed his view on additional racing, Hendrick defined {that a} driver is aware of very nicely in the event that they get injured, they are going to be changed. This shall be his first take a look at.

Hendrick driver Alex Bowman missed 5 races final 12 months with a concussion suffered in a NASCAR race. He obtained a contract extension final month.

The 32-year-old Berry usually drives for JRM within the second-tier Xfinity Sequence. He’s a five-time winner for JRM and has two earlier Cup begins.

Data from The Related Press was used on this report.