Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, will not compete in this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Elliott, according to a statement from Hendrick Motorsports on Friday evening, suffered a left leg injury while snowboarding in Colorado and will undergo surgery on the injury Friday evening.
Josh Berry, who drives the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will fill-in for Elliott in this weekend's race. Berry has five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins on his resume, and the 32-year-old racer has made two previous starts in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
While Elliott not being able to compete in this weekend's event is certainly disappointing, Hendrick Motorsports is solely focused on the recovery of the 27-year-old racer.
“Chase’s health is our primary concern,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports in a team statement. "He's spoken with several members of our team and is understandably disappointed to miss time in the car. Of course, he has our full support, and we’ll provide any resources he needs. We hope to share another update later this weekend.”
Elliott, a native of Dawsonville, Georgia, has never missed a NASCAR Cup Series event since going full-time in 2016. Missing Sunday's race at Las Vegas will end a consecutive starts streak of 254 races for Elliott.
Heading into this weekend, Elliott ranked 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. After a 38th-place result following a crash on lap 119 of the season-opening Daytona 500, Elliott rebounded to finish runner-up to Kyle Busch this past weekend at Auto Club Speedway.
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