Tifft Close At Road America, Finishes Third     

Tifft Close At Road America, Finishes Third

Matt Tifft used Saturdays ARCA race hoping to gain valuable experience ahead of the NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Road America. The Hinckley, Ohio native qualified 2^nd for the ARCA Road America 100. Tifft finished 15^th after getting caught up in a crash late in the event.

Tifft would be caught up in another late race incident later in the day during the NXS race, though it stung a lot deeper. Tifft was leading coming to the white flag when he and Jeremy Clements made contact. Clements had made a move to the inside in turn 14 when he made contact with Tifft. After both spun, Clements was quick to get his machine back to power. He drove away from Tifft taking the lead and would go on to win. Tifft would finish third.

“I wish we could have raced to the white flag and have gotten side by side and been able to battle it out a little bit more,” said Tifft following the race. “It’s funny how things work. At Mid-Ohio we were thrilled with a third place finished and you’re upset about it here.”

http://www.nascar.com/video/franchise/xfinity-series-post-race-reax/tifft-reacts-late-contact-clements-road-america/

In the media center after the race, Clements said he didn’t intend to get into Tifft.

“I definitely didn’t mean to get into him there and wreck us both. I just got loose and tried to stay off him,” said Clements.

The win for Clements was huge. It was his first victory in 256 career NASCAR XFINITY Series starts. The 32-year-old owns the team with his father and was driving a car built in 2008. The win also locks Clements into the NXS playoffs. For 21-year-old Tifft, he will head to Darlington this weekend still in search of his first career win in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Tifft heads into the weekend 9^th in points, 98 ahead of the cutoff to make the playoffs.

Ashland, Ohio native Tim Cowen was also in Sunday’s race at Road America. Cowen started 34^th and finished 36^th.