One of the first people outside the Hendrick Motorsports organization to reach out to Chase Elliott was Kyle Busch, once a driver at Hendrick.
Elliott suffered a broken leg Friday while snowboarding in Colorado. He underwent a three-hour surgery overnight and was expected to be released sometime Saturday but faces an uncertain recovery in the weeks ahead.
Busch unfortunately has some experience with broken bones and recovery. In February 2015, Busch was injured in a last lap crash in the season opening Xfinity race at Daytona International Raceway when his car slid into the inside wall near Turn 1. Busch broke his right leg and left foot in the accident and missed the next 11 races.
Saturday Busch was asked about the challenges Elliott faces in the coming weeks.
“It depends on what and where the break was, obviously,” he said. “If it’s a mid-leg break and you get a rod and screws, it’s not too terrible and not that bad. If it’s something more like knee- or ankle-located, that’s going to be a bigger issue of a joint that needs to move and bend. That’s the big piece of what’s unknown at this time, from my knowledge anyway.
“If it’s just a regular leg break like I had, it’s going to be at least four weeks, I would think, based off getting a rod and screws, then your bones starting to fuse and getting a little bit of fusion going. That’s about the length it takes to get something going.
“I’m sure he’s in good hands. I reached out to him last night and this morning to talk to him a little bit about my experience in it and (that I’d) be happy to help and talk to him and help him through all the things that I did that helped my recovery be speedy.”
All the team will say about the extent of Elliott’s injury was that it was his lower left leg. For the foreseeable future Elliott will be on the mend and rehabbing while everyone else is racing. Something Busch had to endure in 2015.
“It can be tough,” Busch said. “Even as good of a support system as I had around me during my injury, there was a time when we were watching the races on Sunday and you kind of break down and miss that fact of being out there and being in your car and having a chance of going out there to compete. That’s what we live for and build on our whole lives to have success.
“Chase is plenty young and I’m sure plenty healthy enough that it’s not going to be anything too crazy to go through, but it’s just a situation that he’s in at this time. Anything I can do to kind of help that, I’m more than willing to give him a bit of advice.”
Busch went on to receive a waiver from NASCAR in 2015 to become eligible for the playoffs. He returned at the end of May that year. He proceeded to win five races and the Cup championship which should give Elliott some hope. The team said Saturday they have already applied to NASCAR for a waiver.
Busch is also a team owner himself. Like Hendrick he won’t be restricting his drivers outside activities in order to keep them healthy.
“As drivers and humans, we have to go live life,” he said. “We can’t just be locked up in a room at home and wrapped in bubblewrap. Years ago, when I was racing late models and a little bit of dirt cars, Joe (Gibbs) would always kind of warn me not to get hurt or whatever. Then I got hurt in his car doing something for him, so it was like ‘Any stipulations you ever had were out the window!’ I had free reign. It’s a part of it. You never know what’s going to happen. You just deal with it when it comes.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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