“It was about what I expected”

Elliott was sidelined by a fractured tibia in his left leg, which suffered due to a snowboarding accident in early March.

His road to recovery lasted six weeks, and his return at Martinsville did not start off particularly well.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup champion qualified 24th, and spent a good portion of the race running around 20th.

However, things began to click later in the event. He ended the second stage in 25th position, but began to move forward during the final portion of the 400-lap race.

He made big gains in the final stint, and surged all the way up to tenth-place while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson took the checkered flag.

“Yeah, it (the leg) was pretty good, honestly,” said Elliott post-race. “It was about what I expected, so that’s a good thing. It was warm. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything. But our NAPA Chevy, we struggled every run but the last one. We finally got it going there at the end and I was able to make some passes and do things that I didn’t really think I’d be capable of doing, or at least of us fixing it to that degree here at the race track. So I was pleasantly surprised by that. Got us a top-10 out of our first day back, so that’s definitely something to not be too bummed about.”

Asked what he missed most during his absence, Elliott said: “The people, really. From my peers, to my teammates – that competitive nature of being here and wanting to be better. Really nice to be back and appreciate the warm welcome this weekend by everybody, so I appreciate that. It definitely didn’t go unnoticed.”

Elliott jumped from 34th to 31st in points with Sunday’s top-ten result.

The Cup Series now heads to Talladega Superspeedway, where Elliott happens to be the most recent winner. He beat Ryan Blaney in a drag-race to the line there last November.