AVONDALE, Ariz. – After finishing 12th and 11th in the last two NASCAR Xfinity Series races, Matt Tifft earned his first top-10 finish of the season in Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at ISM Raceway.
The seventh-place finish for Tifft was his first driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing and a personal best for the Hinckley, Ohio native in three career starts at Phoenix.
“That was a solid weekend from start to finish for the No. 2 Dollar Shave Club team,” said Tifft. “We unloaded fast, and I was really happy with the car during first practice, which let us experiment during final practice. We qualified well too, started inside the top 10, and stayed there for the whole day.”
For the second consecutive week, Tifft qualified his No. 2 Dollar Shave Club Chevrolet ninth and despite having to start and stop twice for nearly two hours for inclement weather.
Finishing Stage 1 seventh, Tifft had a competitive race that kept him in the hunt during Stage 2 – but a Lap 83 caution sent some lead lap cars scattering to pit road for strategy, including Tifft.
Finishing 18th at the end of Stage 2, he would start Stage 3 seventh and continue his climb through the field and maintained a presence inside the top-five, until his team brought him to pit road inside the final 50 laps for four tires and fuel.
Running out of laps, Tifft was unable to climb back inside the top-five but finished seventh behind RCR teammate Daniel Hemric, claiming his eighth top-10 in the last 11 Xfinity Series races.
The 22-year-old said it was challenging to start and stop the race on two occasions, but when the checkered flag finally flew, the end result was worth the wait.
“It was tough to start and restart the race a couple of times due to all the rain, but my guys kept after it,” added Tifft. “It paid off, and we got our first top-10 finish of the season. I want to thank Dollar Shave Club for all their support as well. This has been an awesome program to be part of, and I hope the #DSC500 winners enjoyed the race.”
The finish was Tifft’s 19th career Xfinity Series top-10.
Heading to Auto Club Speedway next weekend, the final stop in NASCAR’s West Coast Swing, Tifft remains 10th in the point standings and completing all but 1 lap thus far in 2018.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
