CHASE ELLIOTT, DENNY HAMLIN FACING OFFSEASON REHAB AFTER…

Elliott said his injury also was a nagging one, an injury that he thinks dates
back to playing sports in high school. He said he was starting to get concerned
about his long-term health.

“It was really pretty last minute,” Elliott said. “It wasn’t really something
I had planned for a long time. I knew I needed to get the ball rolling to get
some answers. … I wanted to get it looked at, and when I got it looked at,
they felt like surgery was the best option so I listened to the doctors from
there.”

Hamlin said the surgery was not the result of any accident and he aggravated
it in the days leading into the playoff race at Las Vegas.

“This is a genetics thing where the bone just grows a little bit too long,”
Hamlin said. “As you keep agitating. I popped some tendons that [Vegas] week
and then the following week had another incident and then just trying to race
on it was just not good.”

He said he drove the last three events struggling to lift his right arm but he
still thought the recovery would be a month or less rather than three months.
Neither Hamlin nor Elliott will get much simulator time in the offseason as
they heal.

This has always been, to me, an extension of my family’s place in the sport
and the success that they had over the years.”

Elliott’s right arm was in a sling as was Hamlin’s right arm as both have had
offseason shoulder surgery. Elliott said his rehab is progressing and he didn’t
see anything, as of now, that would keep him out of the preseason Clash on Feb.
4 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“Anytime you have surgery, and you go through the process, any little setback
can slow the process down,” Elliott said. “But thus far everything has gone
really well. The way I see things today, I don’t think there’s anything that
would make me think that next year will be compromised at the beginning of the
season, including the Clash.”

Hamlin’s was more invasive as his arthroscopic surgery was more intensive on
Nov. 22 than he had planned, and he said he has to keep his right arm immobile
for three months. Whether he can race the preseason Clash on Feb. 4 is still to
be determined.

“It’s obviously depressing when you wake up from your anesthesia and know
you’ve got three months of just a limp arm that you can’t do anything with,”
Hamlin said.