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via Imago

via Imago

This weekend, the Cup Series paddock makes landfall at the Circuit of the Americas. The race is expected to be a big one, largely due to the star-studded line-up. Aside from the usual suspects—the regular Cup drivers—former F1 champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button will be racing as well. Another new name to the grid will be SportsCar racing driver Jordan Taylor, who will make his debut. Taylor will be driving the #9 Hendrick Motorsports car this weekend, meaning that Chase Elliott is still indisposed.

Recently, Taylor posted a video of himself on social media, captioned, “I’m pretty sure all NASCAR drivers make their voicemails like this right?” In the video, he played a hip-hop song, before dialing down the volume and recording a voicemail over it. The cherry on top was the fact that he added the famous NASCAR refrain, “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Let’s go racing.” At the same time, the 31-year-old was dancing around.

The video did wonders to hype up his Cup Series debut.

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How did NASCAR fans react to his antics?

Among the first responders was his team, Hendrick Motorsports. The team cheekily replied that it was a requirement for all NASCAR drivers to create unique voicemails. Others name-dropped the likes of Jimmie Johnson and asked Taylor if he was going to wear his Jeff Gordon merchandise. One fan called him a “national treasure” and the general consensus is that nobody can wait to see him out on track soon.

Taylor is well-known for his endurance racing exploits. Back in 2015, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Pro division. In eight entries, his team crashed out twice in 2016 and 2022. However, in the other six editions of the iconic race, his Corvette Racing team never finished lower than 5th. Meanwhile, in the IMSA SportsCar championship, he won the championship thrice, in 2017, 2020, and 2021.

Hence, it’s no surprise that HMS has chosen him to drive the #9 in road courses till Chase Elliott it fit to drive.

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When will Chase Elliott return to Hendrick Motorsports?

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The Cup race at the Circuit of the Americas will be the fourth consecutive race that Elliott will miss. As it happened, the 2020 Cup Series champion injured himself in a snowboarding accident. In the process, he fractured his tibia and needed surgery to fix it. Now, the driver will have the unenviable task of playing the waiting game while he recovers from the injury. One would wonder if his championship hopes are over, but stranger things have happened in the past.

USA Today via Reuters

Kyle Busch has obviously proven that one can come back from an injury and still win a Cup title. The big question is, can Elliott do the same when he eventually comes back into the fray? For the moment, he will be content to watch Taylor in his car for this weekend’s race.

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