After sitting out of the 2020 Cup Series season due to health concerns, Matt Tifft seems to be getting back in the game. He and B. J. McLeod are set to partner with Joe Falk to set up a NASCAR Cup team next season.
According to McLeod, they reached an agreement with Go Fas Racing’s Archie St. Hilaire. Since St. Hilaire is stepping back and cutting back his team’s schedule, McLeod and Tifft jumped in immediately.
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The two partners said, “NASCAR’s new business model that will come to fruition in 2022 with the Next Gen car makes our vision possible.
“We are committed to being a staple in the sport for many years to come. There are more details to release and we’ll announce all aspects of them in the near future. Thanks for your support and looking forward to starting this new venture in 2021.”
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How do NASCAR drivers BJ McLeod and Matt Tifft know each other?
Apparently, McLeod acted as a mentor to Tifft in the latter’s early racing career. It is also worth noting that McLeod used to own Cup and Xfinity teams. He is a racer as well and has competed in Cup and Xfinity races.
During his NASCAR career, he started 16 Cup races in 2020 out of a grand total of 57 career starts. In the Xfinity series, McLeod competed in 28 races in the 2020 season, adding to a total of 153 in his career. In addition to that, he owns cars in the Xfinity Series since the 2016 season and a Cup car in the current season.
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It is worth noting that Tifft made his Cup rookie debut with Front Row Motorsports in 2019. Unfortunately, a sudden seizure at the Martinsville Speedway forced him to cut it short. Owing to this, he had to put his racing career on hold in order to focus on his health.
In terms of the Xfinity Series, he competed in 2017 and in the 2018 seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing, respectively. Admittedly, it is unknown whether Tifft will ever return to racing, or if he will settle for a non-racing role. This new gig with McLeod could potentially lean towards that happening in the near future