“It about killed me” - Chase Elliott reminisces on 2023 Martinsville return after fateful injury last season

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott has not been in the best window of performance ever since his knee injury at the start of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. While some analysts in the sport, including Elliott himself, pin down his dismal performances to before the fateful snowboarding accident, the #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver believes it started before that.

Chase Elliott's recent appearance on former driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast allowed for a rare in-depth and unfiltered look into the Dawsonville native's mind. Elliott spoke about how he managed to recover from his injuries as the season passed, along with making his return to Martinsville last year.

Speaking about how that decision might not have been his most logical, the 28-year-old said:

"The hard part for me was just from a cardio standpoint, almost all the cardio that you do, that I do at least is centered around my legs. That went from normal to zero and then it went from zero to Martinsville. That weekend was...it about killed me. I was in bad shape."

The 2023 NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway marked Chase Elliott's return to the NASCAR Cup Series after a hiatus on account of a leg injury sustained during the off-season. With the nature of the short track involving continuous braking and shifting in Next Gen NASCAR, Martinsville proves to be one of the most physical races of the season.

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Chase Elliott "had a blast" during last weekend's NASCAR Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway

Last Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway saw unprecedented levels of tire falloff during the sport's return to concrete for the spring race at the track. The stock car racing community was left divided on whether the longevity, or the lack thereof of the Goodyear tires made for good racing.

Chase Elliott seemed to enjoy the chaos on the 0.5-mile-long track as he elaborated on the Dale Jr. Download (via Ditry Mo Media on X):

"The track had a lot of grip but you could tell the tire couldn't take it. I had a blast. Was it too far into one direction? Probably. Was it a little extreme? I would say so. It was just nice, how your run went was in your hands."

Meanwhile, NASCAR prepares to go racing this Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, kicking off the 2024 season's first road course race.