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Chase Elliott dealt with a lot of issues in 2023 from physical injury to poor performance to his race team letting him down to some bad decisions. However, a recent health update from Elliott has shed some light on what he has been dealing with, and it raises the question, is Chase Elliott finally totally healthy heading into 2024?
The most obvious physical injury Chase Elliott sustained in 2023 was a broken leg while snowboarding. He was out for six weeks before finally returning to the Cup Series. That is a surprisingly quick turnaround from the injury Elliott sustained.
Elliott’s specific injury was a broken tibia. According to OrthoVirginia, a tibia fracture typically takes about 4-6 months to heal completely. If Elliott received that injury in early March, that would put the general recovery window for complete healing between early July and early September. Now, every injury and every person is different, but, Elliott came back in less than half of the time that a normal recovery would be from that kind of an injury.
By contrast, Kyle Busch, who broke his leg in 2015, was out for around three months. Even then, it took him a few weeks before he was back to winning form. Obviously, Busch’s injury was different from Elliott, but, it is interesting to note how Busch took more time away from the car. Apparently, that was not the only physical ailment Elliott was dealing with throughout 2024 either as he posted this on social media.
Elliott had a procedure on his shoulder done for what he described as an “old injury”. He did not go into specifics about the procedure, but, it does show that there was something else going on with Elliott throughout the season.
Now, we are not doctors, so by no means are we definitively diagnosing Elliott. However, it is a legitimate question whether or not Elliott was fully healthy throughout the 2023 season. His performance took an obvious dip throughout 2023.
He went from winning five races and making the Championship 4 in 2022 to going winless in 2023. All of this was happening while teammate Alex Bowman led the points at one point prior to a broken back while sprint car driving and fellow teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson combined for 10 wins and 2 spots in the Championship 4.
Elliott is a better driver than he showed in 2023. Now, a lot of other factors could have played into this. It’s possible that not racing for six weeks made it tough to come back because he fell behind, and, there were moments when his race team did not help him, such as at Watkins Glen.
One thing is for sure, Elliott should be back to 100% heading into 2024. He will be a driver to watch heading into that weekend.
