Matt Tifft Earns 16th Place Finish at Martinsville

It was a 16th-place finish for Matt Tifft after 200 laps at the Martinsville Speedway. Tifft and the No. 11 BrainGear/Surface Sunscreen Toyota Tundra endured a constant battle in traffic and mayhem throughout the afternoon. Tifft turned in a solid ninth-place qualifying effort on Saturday morning, a sizable improvement from Friday’s practices, where he was 18th-fastest in both sessions. Once the green flag flew, Tifft wrestled with a tight condition in the center of each corner, and dealt with a significant chatter in the front tires. On the opening run the left front tire was worn to the cords, and Tifft found himself in 19th by the first caution on lap 51. Crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the No. 11 Red Horse Racing team worked to remedy the handling, however track position and heavy traffic posed a formidable barrier to advancing to the front. Tifft ran inside the top-20 for most the event until he was involved in a lap 177 caution in turn 2, and sustained damage to the nose of his Tundra. After pitting for repairs under caution, Tifft lined up 17th on the final restart on lap 183. Over the final 18 circuits, Tifft picked up one position and took the checkered flag 16th..
 
Start – 9
Finish – 16
Owner Points Position – 4
Laps Led – 0
 
Matt Tifft Quote:
“We fought tight in the center of the corner for most of the day, and that makes it difficult to outrun other trucks on the corner exit and make time. The balance would come to our BrainGear/Surface Sunscreen Tundra on a long run, but it took too long to come in, especially after restarting on the outside on restarts. Zippy (Scott Zipadelli, crew chief) and these No. 11 guys kept digging to constantly make changes, but we never quite got there. We’ll head to Texas next weekend and see what we can make happen and hopefully get Tom DeLoach and the whole team to contend in Miami.”

RHR PR