XFINITY: Tifft to run full-time with JGR in 2017

Matt Tifft, whose world was turned upside down mid-season when doctors discovered a brain tumor, has signed on for a full Xfinity Series season with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2017. The 20-year-old has one top-5 and four top-10s in eight Xfinity races this year for JGR and a top-5 and two top-10s in seven Camping World Truck Series starts for Red Horse Racing.

"It's an incredible opportunity," Tifft said Friday. "The crazy thing is I remember a couple months ago, coming to Bristol to do the press conference about trying to get back in the car, so it's so cool to be sitting here today and announcing our plans for next year and being full-time. The Joe Gibbs Racing organization was so great through everything I went through, and we've had some good runs together so it's gonna be an awesome opportunity to be able to race with them week in and week out.

"It'll be my first full season in NASCAR competition, so it'll be a rewarding thing for me because I feel like I can grow a lot as a driver with all the information JGR gives me, relying on our teammates and that ability to race in and out every week and go contend for the rookie of the year and hopefully end up at Homestead, too."

Matt Beckman, who is currently the Sprint Cup engineer for Denny Hamlin, will be his crew chief.

Tifft won a pole and posted two eighth-places finishes in three races before being diagnosed in June with a low-grade glioma, a slow-growing tumor found during treatment for a back injury. He had surgery in July and was cleared to resume driving about six weeks after the procedure, which was considered a success and removed as much of the tumor as possible. He will not require any additional treatment but will undergo MRIs every eight months to make sure it doesn't grow back.

Tifft and JGR had just started talking about his future role when he received the life-changing news. While he recovered at home, wondering if he'd be able to drive a street car let alone a racecar, he said he kept faith and motivation that he would get back in the car, no matter the timetable.

"When we started this year with the 13-race schedule in my mind my job was to go out and perform and show that I can race with my teammates and learn as much as I could with the ultimate goal of hopefully being able to move to a full-time role. Towards the time [my health issues] started happening was probably when we first started talking about it, and obviously this stuff got put on the back burner. Now that we've been able to get back in the car and get some good runs again, that's when we seriously started talking about it."