CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Coming off a year in which everything in his life was upheaved and left uncertain, Matt Tifft is more ready than ever to finally have a shot at contending for the first series championship of his racing career.

Tifft, who underwent brain surgery last July after a non-malignant glioma was discovered during a checkup, will take the wheel of the No. 19 Tunity Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing this season as he embarks in his rookie season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

It’s an opportunity that the personable racer says ‘can’t come soon enough.’

“I’m ready,” Tifft smiled. “It’s been a long time coming.”

“Starting in 2016, I thought that we were really riding high and that things were starting to fall into place. My first question (after the diagnosis) was, ‘Can we wait until after the season?’ but then you think about it for a few hours and you realize that you can’t do that. You can’t risk waiting. Honestly, though, after it was over … the anxiousness of ‘When will I get back in the car?’ was the hardest part for me. Internally, I wanted to be out there so bad … but I knew I couldn’t. It was hard to take a back seat to that.”

Now, Tifft doesn’t have to take a back seat; instead, he’s once again in the driver’s seat.

Following the surgery, he returned to the driver’s seat from September onward, competing in four XFINITY races and seven NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races to get back into a rhythm and prepare for a true attack in 2017.

Now the time to attack has come, and while the 20-year-old native of Hinckley, Ohio is excited simply to be in a position to race full-time after going through so much turmoil, he’s equally as excited to have suddenly become the sole full-time representative for JGR in the XFINITY Series driver’s championship this year.

With Carl Edwards’ sudden departure from the Cup Series earlier this month and reigning XFINITY champion Daniel Suarez’s ascension to take Edwards’ place in the No. 19 Cup car, Tifft is now the lone bullet in the gun — and he likes the situation that puts him in.

“First off, I’m honestly so proud to be the only full-time points car at Joe Gibbs Racing,” he said. “It’s such a unique opportunity that I obviously didn’t think I would have. I don’t think any of us saw the news from Carl coming.”

“But I’m excited, for sure. JGR and TRD give me so many resources and so many tools to better myself as a driver. Keep in mind … I’ve never had a full-time season before, so that ability to go out and race … and be consistent every week will be huge for me in my career going forward.”

Tifft has also become an advocate for others with braim tumors following his own experience, including carrying the American Brain Tumor Association colors on his XFINITY car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October.

“That’s one of the things I’m probably most proud of, is working with the ABTA and other organizations like that,” he expressed. “We really don’t know too much about brain tumors as a society. You hear about other things and you think that you just go to a doctor and you know what to do, but with brain tumors it’s like there’s a stigma … that ‘your life’s over’ and all that.”

“There was a 10-year-old fan that came up to talk to me at Kentucky and that was special. I’m proud to be someone that people can look up to like that and I want to be able to keep representing and help to eradicate that stigma.”

While Tifft says he is still undergoing regular checkups in the aftermath of his brain surgery, he says he feels ‘as good as ever’ and is simply ready to race, beginning at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Feb. 25.

“When you go through something like I did, there’s times where you wonder at what point things get back to normal,” Tifft admitted. “I always thought that I would get back into NASCAR (after the surgery), but the timing I had no idea about. The only thing that I knew was that I had to use every resource possible and strengthen my brain in every way that I could (in order to get back).”

“Not having to worry about that now … and to have that in the past makes everything that much sweeter to get to this point. I’m looking forward to a great year and looking forward to competing for a championship.”

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

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