Chase Elliott Set to Make NASCAR Cup Series Return in Martinsville

Author: Jesse Rucinski

Chase Elliott is set to make his return to racing this weekend at the Martinsville Speedway. I am being completely honest when I say I am pleasantly surprised at how quick he recovered from his injury. If you somehow don’t know, he suffered a fractured leg in a snowboarding accident on March 3rd. I have stated repeatedly on the podcast that I didn’t see a way or why he would come back before the summer started at the earliest. I was wrong with that assessment and am glad to see him come back as long as he is physically where he needs to be to return to racing action because Josh Berry was doing a good job filling in for the team for the Owners Championship Standings. I must also say that I don’t think he could’ve picked a better place to return and a better test for if he should return.

If there was ever a place to have Chase Elliott return to action, I’m not sure they could manage to get a better place than Martinsville. It has been a place that while we have seen a lot of heartache for Chase, we have also seen great success for him as well. It is a place that has always been special to Hendrick Motorsports as well. They have had a history of success at the paperclip with many different drivers throughout their history in NASCAR. Sadly, there is also tragedy associated with the team and the track as well after the passing of Ricky Hendrick, but the numbers do not lie. As an organization Hendrick Motorsports has 78 races there. In those 78 races they have amassed 19 poles, 27 wins, 89 Top 5’s, 143 Top 10’s, 10,501 laps led, and have seven Stage wins. Chase has accounted for 1 of those wins, 5 Top 5’s, and 8 Top 10’s. Those numbers could be even higher if not for incidents with Denny Hamlin on more than one occasion through his career.

Now we will get to the thing that I have seen heads exploding over since his injury was first announced. That would be the Playoff Waiver from NASCAR to make him Playoff eligible for the 2023 Season. It is something that is not the old school NASCAR mentality and I know that it pisses off many people out there, but it is the world we live in currently. Do I think that people who get injured outside of racing incidents should get the waivers? No, except for certain extreme circumstances but there is nothing that can be done about it. Just go out there, enjoy Chase being back, try to enjoy the racing at Martinsville, and wait and see what happens like the rest of us.