Chase Elliott Explains His Road to Recovery and Return to

The NASCAR superstar is showing no signs of rust following a fractured leg in March.

had been a long six weeks of sitting on the couch under the air conditioner for Chase Elliott before his return to the NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway in mid-April. The NASCAR Cup Series most popular driver sustained a broken left leg during a snowboarding accident in early March and had just been methodically building himself back up to a return.

Many expected Elliott to have a difficult time on the course with the breaking the course requires and the stress that would place on the repaired leg. But he showed no rust, finishing 10th after starting the race in the 24th position. He followed that up with a 14th place finish at the GEICO 500 this past weekend in Talladega. They’ve been great momentum builders as the Hendrick Motorsports driver looks to continue improving heading into the summer months.

to do in increasing the strength and range of motion in the leg, Elliott is grateful to be back competing. Recently being added to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list, he shared his tips for getting back on the track with M&F.

Focus On What You Can Control
I’m a pretty realistic person. I knew I was hurt before I even got the X-rays. I had a pretty good feeling I wasn’t racing that weekend. I had never hurt myself or had to have surgery in my life. It was uncharted territory for me but the way I looked at it was that I couldn’t do anything about it once it happened and once you get the reality of what the injury is, how long surgery is going to be, and what the recovery is going to look like, I just really started listening to the doctors and putting in as much effort and work in on my end to make sure I stayed on schedule. I think I’m probably a few weeks out of being completely mobile and back to normal as it pertains to flexibility and athletic movement — certainly getting around and building strength back in my leg and knee. It’s in a really good place and I’ve been happy with that. I’m just working through it.

My priority was getting back in the car and just getting back to work from that standpoint. It was also about getting in position from a mobility and a bone-healing standpoint. I can’t really do much about that part, but I can certainly work hard at building some of that muscle back that was dormant for a month or so. But my main priority was getting back in the car and being able to perform as I feel l normally would. I was able to get back in the car [in Martinsville] and that was great. I think I have more strength to build back, and my mobility and range of motion are going to continue to be worked on.