Matt Tifft on career-best third at Mid-Ohio: "We needed this one"

Race winner Sam Hornish Jr. wasn’t the only NASCAR Xfinity Series driver to enjoy some “home cooking” over the weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Matt Tifft, a 21-year-old native of Hinckley, Ohio, finished a career-best finish and enjoyed the best weekend from start to finish in his first full-time season with Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota.

Tifft qualified fifth – his second-best start of the season – and managed to avoid the numerous wrecks that marred Saturday’s race and contributed to two red flags.

“It was surviving for a while. I knew this race was going to get crazy, so I was just trying to play defense for a while,” Tifft said. “I knew guys were going to take each other out and I was just trying to play it smart.

“I’m from an hour from here, so to have such a good run in Ohio was pretty sweet. We needed this one.”

The finish was Tifft’s first top-five of the season and fifth top-10. He remains seventh in the series standings and in position to qualify for the playoffs even if he were not to win a race.

Winning, however, would help remove some of the pressure he and his team face each week as the cutoff to make the playoffs approaches.

“We got to get some momentum headed towards the playoffs, so this is definitely good for our team, so happy about that,” he said. “Obviously there’s pressure when you’re going into any championship formation.

“We knew we needed runs like this and we have to carry that the rest of the season from this point. This last month we’ve had much faster Camrys. If we can keep that up, the pressure becomes easier.

“We just have to go out and do my job rather than go for something.”