FORT WORTH, Tex.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie Matt Tifft traveled to Texas Motor Speedway Sunday to support his Front Row Motorsports team for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 – while also giving the media an update on his health since suffering a seizure before the start of first Cup practice last weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
The seizure has sidelined Tifft for the remainder of the Cup Series season. John Hunter Nemechek has been tapped to substitute for the Hinckley, Ohio native for the remaining three races of 2019.
Tifft, 23, couldn’t give a timeline for his return as he said he’ll still have to undergo more tests to determine what triggered his first seizure.
“The next steps are the EEG, which is where they hook up the probes to your head and try to figure out what is going on with the brain waves,” said Tifft. “If that’s not it, we go down the chain of command to see what could have sparked it.”
Tifft who has a contract to return to Front Row Motorsports in 2020 wants to race again soon but acknowledged that his health is his top priority and hopes last weekend’s episode is not career-ending.
“I don’t know,” replied Tifft about the seizure being potential career-ending. “My goal right now is to find what caused it. I want to be back in a race car, but I don’t care about anything else right now other than finding out what caused this. Until then, nothing else matters. I have been through this stuff before and I know enough to be mature and smart enough to know that my health comes first.
“My goal is to get back in this race car and I want to be back as soon as I possibly can but these next few weeks are going to be dedicated to finding answers with doctors to why this happened. It is crazy but the racing part is going to come back and I will get back in a car one way or another, I do honestly believe that. But I have to get my stuff figured out and see what sparked this to happen.”
Since suffering the seizure, Tifft hasn’t been allowed to even drive a passenger car and laws dictate how many months you have to be seizure-free before getting back behind the wheel.
“I don’t fully know what it’ll be,” said Tifft. “A lot of states require you to be good for six months. That is about what I know to this point.”
In 2016, Tifft had successful surgery for the removal of a low-grade glioma in his brain but said Sunday that his scans following the seizure looked good.
“The great thing has been that the brain scans have been really good,” he added. “My brain tumor looked great, or the spot that it was in.”
Jeff Dennison, senior director of sales and marketing for Front Row Motorsports said the team plans to have Tifft back for his sophomore season unless Tifft informs them otherwise.
“Matt came to us under a two-year agreement and we will be honoring that. We will still have Matt be here next year,” he said. “That is our plan. Right now, the plan is for Matt to drive for Front Row Motorsports until Matt tells us anything else, but right now we are committed to having Matt back in the car.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
