Drivers to win after missing races with injury

While injuries might result in drivers missing races, a handful have returned behind the wheel to find Victory Lane. As Chase Elliott gets ready to return on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1), check out these drivers to win during the same season where they missed races due to injury.

Joe Nemechek 
Date of win: Nov. 4, 2001 
Track: Rockingham Speedway 
Races missed: 5 

A broken right shoulder and bruised lungs were the result of a practice session crash at Dover Motor Speedway in mid-May of 2001. After missing more than two months of action, Nemechek returned on July 7, 2001 at Daytona and won at Rockingham close to four months later. 

Johnny Benson 
Date of win: Nov. 3, 2002 
Track: Rockingham Speedway
Races missed: 5 

A rib injury sustained in May 2002 saw Benson miss three races. After his return to on-track action, a re-aggravated injury at Daytona in early July saw him miss two more contests. However, Benson went on to capture his lone career Cup Series win approximately four months after the second injury stint. 

Brian Vickers 
Date of win: July 14, 2013 
Track: New Hampshire Motor Speedway 
Races missed: 25 (2010) 

Blood clots and heart surgery kept Vickers out of action for the bulk of the 2010 season, and after returning to race a full and partial slate in 2011 and 2012, respectively, Vickers, in the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, won his third Cup Series race. Although health issues persisted in late 2013 and 2015, Vickers continued to find time to race until his last Cup Series contest in April 2016 at Texas Motor Speedway. 

Denny Hamlin 
Date of win: Nov. 17, 2013 
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway 
Races missed: 4 

A head-to-head battle in March at Fontana between Joey Logano and Hamlin eventually saw both slam into two separate walls -- Logano to the outside and Hamlin into the inside retaining wall. An airlift to the hospital eventually found an L1 compression fracture in Hamlin's lower back, and while Hamlin failed to make the playoffs that season after his return in May (Talladega), he did win to close out the 2013 Cup Series season. 

Kyle Busch 
Date of win: June 28, 2015 
Track: Sonoma Raceway 
Races missed: 11 

After slamming into a concrete wall at Daytona in the Xfinity Series season opener, Busch was diagnosed with fractures in his lower right leg and lower left foot. As such, Busch's first race of the Cup campaign came during the Coca-Cola 600 in late May, where he finished 11th. Four races later, Busch picked up victory No. 1 of the season at Sonoma. The win sparked a five-race stretch where Busch won four of five. A victory at Homestead-Miami to close out the season cemented "Rowdy" with his first career Cup Series title. 

Tony Stewart 
Date of win: June 26, 2016 
Track: Sonoma Raceway 
Races missed: 8 

A burst fracture of the L1 vertabrae following an ATV accident in late January sidelined Stewart for the first two-plus months of the season before he returned to action in late April (Richmond). A win in wine country in June -- and a playoff waiver -- gave the three-time Cup Series champion an opportunity to compete in the playoffs in what was his final season of Cup racing.