Matt Tifft, who had brain surgery just over two months ago, has been medically cleared to return to competition, NASCAR officials confirmed to Motorsport.com on Monday.
Tifft, a 20-year-old student at UNC Charlotte, underwent brain surgery on July 1 to have a low-grade, benign brain tumor removed, and has been sidelined from the race track since. The tumor was discovered in a scan that Tifft had done while he was undergoing treatment for a back issue.
In recent weeks, Tifft has been taking part in various on-track testing with Late Models and in simulators hoping to expedite his return.
Tifft will return to action this weekend in the Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. Tifft was originally scheduled to compete in Friday night’s race with Red Horse Racing in the No. 11 Toyota.
"I'm excited to get back behind the wheel," said Tifft. "I've really missed being at the track, so I'm very happy to be back and able to race the No. 11 Tundra with BrainGear and Surface Sunscreen on board."
Added team owner Tom DeLoach, "We're really glad to have Matt back in the No. 11, but more importantly we're glad that he's healthy. We're looking forward to finishing out the season strong with him back in action."
Tifft also has four races remaining this season on his original 13-race schedule in the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing. The next scheduled race is the Sept. 24 standalone event at Kentucky Speedway.
Besides Chicagoland, Tifft was also originally scheduled to run Truck races for Red Horse this season at Las Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.
Tifft, a member of the 2016 NASCAR Next class, earned a pair of top-10 finishes and a pole at Talladega in three Xfinity races this season with JGR before he sat out the June race at Iowa with the back injury.
