TC Daily Pit Stop: Chase Elliott Will Not Race Vegas, Undergoes Surgery; Kyle Busch Scores Truck Win at Vegas; Chandler Smith on Xfinity Pole; Saturday's TV Schedule

TC Daily Pit Stop: Saturday, March 4th, 2023

Toby Christie

Mar 4, 2023

PHOTO CREDIT: Craig White / TobyChristie.com

On Friday evening, Hendrick Motorsports released a statement that may just be the story of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. 2020 NASCAR Cup champion and five-time Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott will not compete this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after sustaining an injury to his left leg while snowboarding in Colorado on Friday.

According to the release from HMS, Elliott was scheduled for surgery on his injured leg later in the evening on Friday.

“Chase’s health is our primary concern,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “He’s spoken with several members of our team and is understandably disappointed to miss time in the car. Of course, he has our full support, and we’ll provide any resources he needs. We hope to share another update later this weekend.”

Josh Berry will fill-in for Elliott this weekend.

Kyle Busch Scores Dominant Victory in Truck Series Race from Las Vegas

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

His pit crew may have been late to the track, but nothing could stop Kyle Busch from taking a commanding victory in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Busch led an impressive 84 laps in the 134 lap race and made it to the checkered flag ahead of Zane Smith, the winner of the season-opener at Daytona and defending series champion.

The Las Vegas native will now attempt to do a clean sweep of the Las Vegas weekend, as he’ll run the Xfinity race on Saturday and Cup race on Sunday.

RACE RESULTS

DRIVER STANDINGS

Video: Hailie Deegan Sees Promising Night End in Four-Wide Crash With Nemechek

Screengrab: FS1 Race Broadcast

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Chandler Smith Blasts to First Career Pole at Las Vegas

Photo Credit: Craig White | TobyChristie.com

He may have won last year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but I think Chandler Smith shocked a lot of people by rocketing to the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300. The Kaulig Racing driver beat out Justin Allgaier for the pole.

Cole Custer, Brett Moffitt and Josh Berry rounded out the top-five qualifiers in the session.