Matt Tifft hasn’t raced in NASCAR since the 2019 season when a seizure took him out of the Front Row Motorsports car he raced that season. He also contested full Xfinity Series seasons in 2017 and 2018.
Doctors diagnosed him with epilepsy but at the time couldn’t draw any conclusions if the dozen concussions he had prior to that morning had anything to do with it. His doctors also don’t believe there is correlation between the condition and the brain tumor he had removed in July 2016.
Tifft, now 28, has enjoyed a varied career since his racing tenure ended. From 2020 to 2023, Tifft co-owned Live Fast Motorsports with BJ McLeod before selling their shares to Spire Motorsports. He has even began racing again, in both Dirt and Pavement Late Models.
Read more: Tifft involved in Late Model scuffle
Tifft tweeted a video on Friday answer the question about a possible NASCAR return.
“I’ve been busy the past two years racing,” Tifft said. “I want to start with that because I would not be able to if it wasn’t for my medical team clearing me. I’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and money travelling around the country to get cleared by the top neurologists, upper cervical physicians, all this kind of stuff just to be sure that I was safe out there [on track], and obviously it’s not just me but other competitors. I wanted to make sure I did that first before I ever got on the racetrack.
“With that being said, I have talked to NASCAR, not only recently, but in previous years about what that path may look like to come back. Ultimately, they have said ‘that it is a no for right now.’ Where that comes from is they have their own panel neurologists and physicians. I do think that from insurance and liability that NASCAR has to think about as a whole it is a bit different here. That is why other sanctioning bodies can clear me, and they cannot.”
It took 10 months without a seizure before North Carolina would issue him a driver’s license again, which he passed. NASCAR needs to see continued good health for years to come and would review the topic in six more years.
“I understand it and I respect that side of it,” Tifft added. “But I have had ARCA teams, Truck teams, and Xfinity teams call me to want to go run races. That side frustrates me a little bit because I don’t see why an ARCA car at Salem Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Toledo Speedway, why I couldn’t go hop in that. That is an option that has been presented to me for this season.
“I hope that there is a way to figure out a middle ground for me to be able to go do races at slower speeds, almost like the 17-year-old rule. From my side of things, I’m not looking to run the Daytona 500 or anything like that right now. I would love to go hop in for some short track racing. We’ll see where this all leads, but as of right now, to answer the question, 2031 is what NASCAR has told to me tentatively as long as everything goes well that we’ll review at that point.”
