BRASELTON, Ga. — Matt Tifft climbed aboard the familiar confines of a stock car over the weekend and claimed two class wins in the Circle Track Warehouse No. 39 machine in the prestigious Historic Sportscar Racing Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
“It was so special to go down to an incredible track like Road Atlanta and win our division,” Tifft said. “Racing stock cars is my first love in racing, and road racing in them is just so fun. I didn’t know this race would be on my schedule at the beginning of the year, and Bryan Rodgers at Circle Track Warehouse prepares an awesome car to go run.
“Even more so, seeing all the throwback cars and vehicles in the HSR Series paddock across all series was really neat, and I can’t wait to join them again for another race in the future.”
On both Saturday and Sunday, Tifft competed in HSR’s Group 8 featuring historic stock cars on the hilly 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit in Braselton, Georgia. He drove a 2006 NASCAR Busch Series No. 39 Dodge Charger originally from the Team Penske stable in the SC/B class, designed for Modern Era (1996-2006) NASCAR vehicles running limited specifications.
In the first eight-lap race on Saturday, he came out on top in class among 14 SC/B machines and finished second overall to fellow former Cup driver Joe Nemechek in the 33-car field. Nemechek was competing in the SC/E class featuring HSR “Legacy” stock cars built beyond series specifications.
With 30 Group 8 cars taking part in Sunday’s eight-lapper, Tifft again claimed the class win in the 13-car SC/B field and finished behind Nemechek in the overall rundown.
“Getting to victory lane was incredible, I definitely needed to knock off some of the rust early in the weekend with not racing on road courses in half a decade, but by day two I was pretty confident,” said an elated Tifft following his exciting weekend. “I’m pretty sure I made my guys change everything in that car to give ourselves a shot at the win, and it’s very satisfying to go out there and execute my part of the job for the team.
“Winning never comes easy, and you have to cherish those memories.”
Tifft now turns his attention back to the Dirt Super Late Model ranks and his B’laster Products No. 57 entry this weekend.