“Had an awesome experience”: Chase Elliott’s emergency replacement looks back on his brief time in NASCAR

Back in 2023, Hendrick Motorsports superstar Chase Elliott fractured his tibia while snowboarding in Colorado which put him out of action for 6 weeks. During that time, two emergency pilots covered for him in the #9 Chevrolet: IMSA driver Jordan Taylor, and Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry.

Taylor, who only substituted Elliott at the Circuit of the Americas, drove the #40 Cadillac V Series in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing. In 2017, he won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the Prototype Class in IMSA. This was his first and only start at Cup Series level, in which he began the race from P4 and finished P24.

On February 25, Joey Stone (All Clear podcast presenter) posted on his X account a photo of Jordan Taylor with the simple caption "Who remembers?". Taylor himself later responded:

"I remember. Had an awesome experience. Practice and qualifying couldn’t have gone much better, just didn’t have the right mindset for the race. Excited to watch some good racing this weekend!" Jordan Taylor wrote via X (formerly Twitter).

Days before that COTA race, NBC interviewed Taylor outside the track. There, he talked about the crash course in NASCAR racing he got before the challenge. But also how he wanted to honor HMS vice president Jeff Gordon, who gave him the chance to fill in for Chase Elliott, by imitating Gordon's helmet design for the contest.

"I think I found out a week and a half ago, came straight to the shop to start the seat fitting and getting to know the team, and the way everything works... Then I (got to do) simulator time, finish the seat and basically learn everything there is to learn about NASCAR race... It's been like a sensory overload," Taylor said. (min 1:26 onward)

"To be called in is a huge honor to kinda fill those shoes while Chase (Elliott) is away, so definitely trying to make everyone proud with this big opportunity. (I felt like) It was very necessary to kind of do something in return for that (asking him to fill in) and put him on the helmet." (min 0:36 onward)

Josh Berry also had average performances during those five races in which he covered for Chase Elliott, finishing only once within the Top 10, leading several laps and winning one stage in Atlanta.

---

Chase Elliott and the rest of the drivers set sights on COTA 2025

Two years after the snowboarding accident, Chase Elliott returns to the Circuit of the Americas with restored spirits and looks to take the checkered flag before everyone else.

After a P15 in The Great American race and a P20 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Elliott needs to pick up the pace if he wants to stay near the leaders. With 56 points, he currently sits at 10th overall in the standings.

Action at COTA for Cup drivers is set to start this Sunday, March 2, at 3:30 pm ET.