NCWTS: MATT TIFFT Hoping Youth Will be Served Again North of the Border

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 25, 2015) – Matt Tifft will make his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series road-course start behind the wheel of the No. 51 Rally for Kids With Cancer Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) in Sunday’s 64-lap event atCanadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. Tifft’s Tundra will be promoting a great cause this weekend, carrying the logo of Rally for Kids With Cancer, which is a unique car rally held each year in Toronto that has raised over $14 million for children’s cancer research and care at SickKids, a hospital for sick children affiliated with the University of Toronto.

While it will be Tifft’s first road-course start in the Truck Series, he is no stranger to making right and left-hand turns. The Ohio native grew up racing road-course go karts and as he continues to progress through the motorsports ranks has competed in a combined eight road-course events between the ARCA Racing Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West divisions. His career-best road-course finish came in the ARCA Racing Series at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville last June, where he qualified third, led two laps and brought home a third-place finish.

The 19-year-old driver has logged a pair of road-course starts in 2015, qualifying 10^th and finishing 15^th in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West event at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June, and qualifying second and finishing 14^th at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the ARCA Racing Series in May. Tifft proved to be the driver to beat early in the race at New Jersey, leading 19 of the first 27 laps before being relegated to a 14^th-place finish after experiencing a fuel pump issue while making a pit stop and losing several laps.

Sunday’s race north of the border will be Tifft’s eighth Truck Series start in 2015, six having come with KBM. The promising youngster has collected three top-10 finishes, including eighth-place results in his KBM debut behind the wheel of the No. 51 Tundra at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May, and his last appearance for the team driving the No. 54 Tundra at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway earlier this month. Including this weekend’s event at the 10-turn road course, he has five starts remaining this year, three with the No. 51 team (Talladega Superspeedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and a pair with the No. 54 team (Chicagoland Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway).

Youth has prevailed over experience in two years of Truck Series action at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with 17-year-old Chase Elliott winning the inaugural event in 2013, and 20-year-old Ryan Blaney earning the victory last year. Tifft is hoping that youth will once again be served Sunday north of the border and he can celebrate his first career NASCAR victory at the same time as bringing a smile to the faces of the SickKids.

Matt Tifft, driver of the No. 51 Rally for Kids With Cancer NCWTS Tundra:

Do you feel like running road-course events in other series the past few years has helped prepare you for your first road-course start in the Truck Series?

“Growing up racing go karts, the road courses were always my favorite tracks to race at and it’s been fun to be able to continue racing them in ARCA and K&N as I’ve moved up the ladder. I feel like having a good bit of road-racing experience will definitely help as I make my first road-course start in the Truck Series. We’ve got SickKids, which is a hospital for sick children affiliated with the University of Toronto, and the Rally for Kids With Cancer, which is a unique car rally held each year in Toronto that has raised over $14 million for children’s cancer research and care at SickKids, on our Tundra this weekend so we’re looking forward to having a solid run and promoting a great cause.”

A few months ago you traveled to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for a track day. What were you able to learn about the track and how does it compare to the other road courses you’ve competed on this year?

“By making some laps at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, I was able to learn about the track’s big elevation changes as well as how important it is to carry big straightaway speed with such long uphill straights. It’s a very quick track, with some very technical sections as you approach the end of the track. It is definitely faster than the other road courses I’ve raced at in the past and being able to keep your momentum and rhythm going throughout a run will be huge.”

Jerry Baxter, crew chief of the No. 51 Rally for Kids With Cancer NCWTS Tundra:

Is it fun to crew chief at a road-course race?

“It’s always is a lot of fun to crew chief at a road course because there is a million different ways that the race can play out. The challenge as a crew chief is to figure out which strategy is going to be the right one and then execute it. If you are one of the fastest trucks, then you don’t have to take a lot of gambles, but if you are just a top-five or top-10 truck it presents you with an opportunity to implement a strategy that is different than the leaders and if things play out right, you can end up ahead of them. Although Matt (Tifft) hasn’t raced at this track, he did go up there earlier this year and make some laps during one of their track days and he’s got a fair amount of road-course racing experience in both K&N and ARCA, where he’s been able to lead some laps and have a couple top-five finishes. This is one of the two tracks left on the schedule that KBM has never won at, so our goal on Sunday is to go out and cross another one off the list.”

Notes of Interest:

Matt Tifft @ Road Courses

Making his first road-course start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Has a combined eight starts on road courses between the ARCA Racing Series (three), K&N Pro Series East (three) and K&N Pro Series West (two), producing a career-best road-course finish of third in the ARCA Racing Series event at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville in June of 2014

Matt Tifft Road Course Profile:

Date	Series	Track	Start	Finish	Laps	Laps Led	Status
6/27/2015	K&N West	Sonoma	10	15	68/68	0	running
5/24/2015	ARCA	New Jersey	2	14	62/67	19	running
8/16/2014	K&N East	VIR	14	6	60/60	0	running
6/21/2014	K&N West	Sonoma	14	10	66/66	0	running
6/1/2014	ARCA	New Jersey	3	3	67/67	2	running
10/18/2013	K&N East	Road Atlanta	15	23	9/28	0	engine
8/24/2013	K&N East	VIR	16	15	57/57	0	running
7/28/2013	ARCA	New Jersey	12	15	64/67	0	running

Matt Tifft 2015

Has registered three top-10 finishes in seven NCWTS starts this season, including an eighth-place finish in his KBM debut at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May and an eighth-place finish in his most recent outing at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
Has posted an average finish of 11.5 across eight ARCA Racing starts, including a runner-up finish at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn.
Finished 15^th in the K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway (6/27/15)

Matt Tifft NCWTS Career Stats:

Year	Races	Win	T5	T10	Pole	Laps	Led	Earnings	AvSt	AvFn	RAF	Miles	LLF
2014	3	0	0	1	0	458	0	$30,400	21.7	16.3	3	430.2	2
2015	7	0	0	3	0	794	0	$107,757	14.3	17.0	4	895.7	4
Totals	10	0	0	4	0	1252	0	$138,157	16.5	16.8	7	1325.9	6

Matt Tifft 2014

Eighth-place finish in his NCWTS debut at Martinsville Speedway in October was his best result across three starts
Produced five top-five and seven top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at Kentucky Speedway in September, across his 10 ARCA Racing Series starts
Collected two top-10 finishes across six NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts
Finished 10th in his lone NASCAR K&N Pro Series West start

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 Tundra:

The No. 51 team currently ranks fourth in the 2015 NCWTS Owner’s championship point standings, 43 points behind the series-leading No. 19 team
The team has registered two wins, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.8 across 14 starts in 2015
The No. 51Tundra team has compiled 19 of KBM’s 42 NCWTS victories and are the two-time reigning NCWTS Owner’s champions

KBM NCWTS Program

Has collected three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owner’s Championships, 43 Truck Series victories and 23 poles across 243 starts since originating in 2010
Has been victorious in four of the last six Truck Series events this season dating back to Erik Jones’ win at Iowa Speedway in June
43 career Truck Series victories as an organization ranks second all-time behind Roush (50) and tied with Kevin Harvick Inc. (43)
14 victories as an organization during the 2014 season broke the Truck Series record of 12 set by Ultra Motorsports in 2001
Seven different drivers have won a race for KBM, led by owner-driver Kyle Busch with 28. Darrell Wallace Jr. and Erik Jones have collected five victories, Denny Hamlin produced two victories and Christopher Bell, Kasey Kahne and Brian Scott have all collected one triumph
Has collected victories at 19 of the 21 tracks on the 2015 schedule, excluding Atlanta Motor Speedway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

KBM NCWTS @ Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

KBM drivers have collected three top-five and three top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.4 across five starts at the 10-turn road course
One of just two current tracks on the Truck Series schedule where KBM has yet to register a win
Chad Hackenbracht’s runner-up finish in the 2013 event is the best result by a KBM driver

The Book on Baxter:

Veteran crew chief Jerry Baxter is currently in his third season atop the pit box for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Under the California native’s guidance, Darrell Wallace Jr. finished third in the Truck Series championship standings in 2014 and led all series regulars in wins (four), laps led (623), driver rating (109.5) and fastest laps run (280). Combined in two seasons working with Wallace Jr., Baxter posted five wins, three poles, 963 laps led, 14 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes across 44 starts. In addition to his seven wins at KBM, he boasts one other Truck Series win (Cale Gale, 2012) and one NASCAR XFINITY Series win (David Reutimann, 2007).

Baxter’s Truck Series drivers have posted one top-five and one top-10 finish resulting in an average finish of 8.0 across two starts at the 10-turn road course.

Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Tundra 2015 NCWTS Box Score:

Date	Site	Driver	Start	Finish	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Owner Pts./Pos.	Money Won
2/20	Daytona	Suarez	30	9	100/100	5	running	36/9^th	$20,786
2/28	Atlanta	Suarez	4	4	130/130	1	running	77/4^th	$21,261
3/28	Martinsville	Suarez	11	6	258/258	0	running	115/4^th	$16,574
5/8	Kansas	Suarez	10	6	167/167	1	running	154/4^th	$17,277
5/15	Charlotte	Tifft	3	8	139/139	0	running	190/4^th	$16,481
5/29	Dover	Suarez	5	2	200/200	0	running	232/4^th	$33,106
6/5	Texas	Suarez	3	2	167/167	6	running	275/3^rd	$41,559
6/13	Gateway	Tifft	8	25	92/167	0	accident	294/5^th	$12,019
6/19	Iowa	Bell	10	5	200/200	0	running	333/4^th	$18,646
7/9	Kentucky	Suarez	4	4	145/145	18	running	374/4^th	$22,029
7/22	Eldora	Tifft	22	21	154/154	0	running	397/4^th	$13,952
8/1	Pocono	Busch	2	1	69/69	53	running	445/4^th	$41,542
8/15	Michigan	Busch	10	1	100/100	44	running	493/4^th	$43,447
8/19	Bristol	Suarez	16	30	154/202	0	overheating	507/4^th	$11,202