The question remains if Chase Elliott ready for his NASCAR Cup comeback

Some wonder if he’s rushed back, missing just 6 races after suffering a broken leg and resulting surgery. NASCAR’s most popular driver says he’s good to go. But is he?

It’s been quite a few races without Chase Elliott driving the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports and his absence has been felt by drivers and fans alike.

Over a month has passed since Elliott’s infamous snowboarding accident, but he healed quickly and will be back in his trusty steed for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

If you are not caught up, Elliott fractured his tibia on March 3rd before the NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas. Elliott had surgery following the accident, spent much of his recovery in Colorado – where the accident and surgery both took place – and was expected to miss around six weeks.

Injuries like his are hard to assign a return date to. Speculation was that Elliott would be back in six weeks, ready to race. As it turns out, his recovery was closer to five weeks – but what’s a few days between friends, right?

The interesting thing is that there was virtual radio silence from the Hendrick camp both right after the accident and surgery and few updates afterward. Then, all of a sudden earlier this week, Team Hendrick put out a press release that Elliott would be back for this Sunday’s race at Martinsville.

Sure, that’s good news, but it wasn’t exactly expected as soon as it occurred, either. It was more likely that he’d be back next week or even the week after. But that’s one of the benefits of youth and being in great physical shape. Because he only had one break in his tibia, it healed quickly.

Elliott’s car to date has been driven by both Josh Berry and Jordan Taylor. In terms of owners points, the absence of Elliott hasn’t hurt too much, given the decent success of his replacements.

Taylor was in the final qualifying group at COTA and finished 24th, while Berry finished 29th at Las Vegas, 10th at Phoenix, 18th at Atlanta, a near-shocking second at Richmond and was 27th in what would prove to be his swan song in Elliott’s car, last week on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Elliott’s absence broke his streak of 254 consecutive race starts. With the NASCAR rules for the playoffs, a driver must race in every event. If an injury is to occur, a playoff waiver would be needed.

Last year Kurt Busch got a playoff waiver because of his concussion sustained in Pocono. In the end, Busch gave up that waiver due to him not being medically cleared to return to race.

And let’s not forget Kurt’s younger brother Kyle, who was in a horrendous wreck in the season-opening Xfinity race in 2015 at Daytona, missed 11 Cup races, came back, was granted a waiver and ultimately wound up winning the championship in one of the greatest comeback stories NASCAR has ever seen.