Making his first start at Pocono Raceway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and his fourth start for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Matt Tifft was ready to take on the “Tricky Triangle.” With limited practice time due to a precautionary engine change, Tifft learned more during every lap of the race and survived three green-white-checker attempts to finish eighth.
After qualifying his No. 54 ToyotaCare Tundra 14th earlier in the day, Tifft cracked the top 10 within the first 10 laps of the 60-lap event. As the race continued, his Tundra was tight in the middle of turn three, so when Tifft made his green-flag pit stop on lap 28 the KBM team made a wedge adjustment along with new right-side tires.
The handling improved but without a caution since lap six, the field was very spread out making it hard to gain track position. When a caution for debris finally came with 10 laps to go, crew chief Shannon Rursch called Tifft to pit road for four tires, fuel and another wedge adjustment. He restarted the race 13th with eight laps remaining.
The final eight laps of the race were filled with accidents resulting in three attempts at a green-white-checker finish, the maximum NASCAR will allow. Tifft was up to eighth for the final restart on lap 68 and was able to hang on to finish there.
“We had limited practice time so it just took a little while for me to get acclimated with it,” Tifft said. “Then, once we got going we were pretty decent and then the last few restarts were just crazy. Our ToyotaCare Tundra was really good at the end, but I just got stuck at the top (of turn three) and got a little bit sideways there. Pretty solid finish for such limited practice time.”
In his first race back in the truck series this season, KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch won the race. Kevin Harvick was second followed by Tyler Reddick, Cameron Haley and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five. KBM’s Erik Jones finished 10th after recovering from a spin a few laps from the finish. The No. 54 team moved up one position to 13th in the owner’s championship point standings.
KBM PR
