Matt Tifft planned to pull double duty this weekend at Iowa Speedway in the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck series. Instead, he’ll be watching from the sidelines.
Tifft announced today (June 14) that he will not race this weekend due to a disc problem in his back. The driver confirmed the news via Twitter.
Under recommendation of my doctor, for treatment of a back condition with a disc, I will not be competing this weekend. I will be looking to
— Matt Tifft (@matt_tifft) June 14, 2016
Get back to competing as soon as possible, and thank you for the kind words and wish good luck to my @JoeGibbsRacing team at Iowa! (Cont)
— Matt Tifft (@matt_tifft) June 14, 2016
Instead, Sam Hornish, Jr. will make his XFINITY season debut a little early, subbing for Tifft in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 for his first NASCAR start of 2016. Hornish was previously scheduled to run two races for Richard Childress Racing in the team’s XFINITY Series No. 2 later in the year.
A replacement for Tifft in the Truck Series event has not been announced. He was scheduled to pilot the No. 11 for Red Horse Racing. German Quiroga and Ben Kennedy have also raced that truck in 2016.
Tifft has competed in six XFINITY Series races this year, with two top-10 finishes. He also has three Truck Series starts, with a single top 5.
Hornish will make his first NASCAR start since the season finale for the Sprint Cup Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November. He has three career wins in the XFINITY Series, the last coming at Iowa in 2014.
About the author
Rutherford is the managing editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2015 after serving on the editing staff for two years. At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.