FORT WORTH, Texas — Matt Tifft, who suffered a seizure last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, spoke briefly with the media Sunday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, saying “I want to be back in a race car, but I don’t care about anything else right now other than finding out what caused this.”
Tifft will miss the rest of the season. John Hunter Nemechek will drive the No. 36 for Front Row Motorsports the final three Cup races.
Tifft, who had surgery to remove a tumor in his brain on July 21, 2016, said scans of where the tumor was looked good. Tifft said he will undergo additional testing, including an EEG, which measures the electrical activity of the brain.
“I have been through this stuff before, and I know enough to be mature and smart enough to know that my health comes first,” Tifft said. “My goal is to get back in this race car, and I want to be back as soon as I possibly can, but these next few weeks are going to be dedicated to finding answers with doctors to why this happened.
“I will get back in a car one way or another, I do honestly believe that. But I have to get my stuff figured out and see what sparked this to happen.”
Tifft stood outside the team’s No. 36 hauler as he spoke and noted he was standing about five feet from where he had his seizure last weekend.
“It is a little stressful right now and honestly just dealing with the anxiety of it,” he said. “I just have to take baby steps.”
Jeff Dennison, senior director of sales and marketing for Front Row Motorsports, stressed that Tifft has a place with the team.
“Matt came to us (this season) under a two-year agreement and we will be honoring that,” Dennison said. “We will still have Matt be here next year. That is our plan.”
#NASCAR ... @matt_tifft is at @TXMotorSpeedway and met with the media briefly. He says his goal is to get back into the No. 36 car. pic.twitter.com/KMnaR5cJTF
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) November 3, 2019