By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
In what has been a quiet year loaded with consistency, Saturday’s Lakes Region 250 was a long-awaited day for Matt Tifft.
The first-year Richard Childress Racing driver, who has been racing on the bubble for the XFINITY Series playoffs in 2018, drove to only his second top-five finish in his No. 2 Chevrolet. And after starting 14th, Saturday was a “capitalizing” weekend for Tifft.
“We felt like we’ve had the speed, it was just maximizing the whole weekend and carrying it over from practice, qualifying and race,” Tifft said. “We’ve done that but we haven’t been capitalizing at the end.”
With only one top 10 in his last six starts, the summer has been tough for the sophomore driver, who has dropped in points in return. Though New Hampshire didn’t show top-five speed consistently, it was a meaningful boost of ego moving forward.
And coming at the flat miler of New Hampshire, Tifft is surprised to be leaving with a smile on his face.
“I’ve never felt great about coming to New Hampshire so it’s a great one to get a first top five,” he said. “It was a good recovery from where we’ve struggled. It was good to get back to a good, solid day where we feel like we should be.”
Good, solid days are what Tifft has seen from his teammates Daniel Hemric. The North Carolina native has been a weekly contender for victories this year and has nine top fives to Tifft’s one prior to New Hampshire. Runs like Saturday envelope the improvement Tifft has noticed from his No. 2 crew.
“The last couple weeks, we’ve been closer and have ended up together [with Hemric],” he said. “They have been able to make the right changes and get ahead where we get one step behind in a lot of places.
“This is a good weekend for learning when it comes to staying up with the track. That’s great for moving forward.”