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After suffering seizure at Martinsville, Matt Tifft out for rest of 2019

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Matt Tifft (36) waves at driver introductions during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2019, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Matt Tifft has one top-10 finish in 2019. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Matt Tifft won’t be back in a Cup Series car in 2019.

Front Row Motorsports announced Tuesday that Tifft would be replaced by John Hunter Nemechek for the rest of the season. Tifft said he suffered a seizure Saturday morning at Martinsville and was briefly hospitalized. Tifft was replaced at Martinsville by Matt Crafton.

The team said the decision for Tifft to sit out the rest of this season was made after consultation with his doctors. Tifft said in a video posted to Twitter that he suffered the seizure while he was making coffee in the team hauler.


Tifft made sure to mention that there were no signs of a recurrence of the brain tumor that he had previously dealt with. He was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor in 2016.

"We want to thank John Hunter for filling in Matt's seat as he continues to recover," FRM general manager Jerry Freeze said in a statement. "Our thoughts are still with Matt and his family. We feel that John Hunter can step up and do a great job for us as Matt heals."

Tifft is in his first season in the Cup Series. His best finish of the season came at Daytona in July when he finished ninth. He has an average finish of 26th and is 31st in the points standings.

Nemechek is driving full-time for GMS Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2019. He has 16 top-10 finishes in 30 races this season and is currently ninth in the standings. He has six career Truck Series wins and got his first Xfinity Series win in 2018 when he won at Kansas while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing’s now-defunct Xfinity team.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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