Breaking news

NASCAR Cup

McLeod and Tifft partner to form new Cup Series team

When Matt Tifft was forced to cut short his NASCAR driving career due to health issues that didn’t mean he wanted out of the sport.

Jim Utter

Edited: Nov 21, 2020, 4:02 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

In fact, it was just the opposite. Tifft began searching for options to make NASCAR a long-term home even if it involved something other than driving race cars.

Last October, Tifft – who was competing in the Cup series with Front Row Motorsports at the time – was forced to the sidelines after experiencing seizures.

The first steps of his future were unveiled Friday when he and fellow driver B.J. McLeod announced the formation of Live Fast Motorsports, which will field a fulltime Cup Series team beginning with the 2021 Daytona 500.

The team will field the No. 78 Ford Mustang which will be driven by McLeod and the organization has purchased a charter, which will guarantee it entry in all 36 points-paying races in 2021.

“I explored all kinds of avenues, whether that was being involved from a PR standpoint or sponsor standpoint. I looked at some driver coaching stuff. I couldn’t drive, so when you spend your entire life being a driver, it’s pretty hard,” said Tifft, 24.

“I went through several months in there, one, I was dealing with the health problems, but, two, kind of a dark space of I’ve worked my entire life to get here and all of a sudden it’s gone. So, I really worried about it because I wanted to be a part of NASCAR.

“NASCAR is my work life and I love everything about racing, so my full investment in this sport is seeing the sport grow, seeing our team grow and to have that opportunity as a team owner is so rewarding.”

Taking on an ownership role allows Tifft to do something in NASCAR that was much more difficult when he was a driver – plan for the future.

“When you’re a driver, you worry about every single season. ‘What does that contract look like? What does my funding look like for the next year?’ With this, you get to plan for one, two, three, five years, 10 years, 20 years, and you have a business plan set in there,” he said.

“That’s what’s so cool about this and what makes it such a bigger deal.”

Additionally, Live Fast will have a partnership with fellow Ford team Stewart-Haas Racing, one of the most successful organizations in the NASCAR in recent seasons.

“We have an open door there and we’ve obviously already got their cars, their parts, their spindles, their hubs, their trailing arms, truck arms,” said McLeod. “We’ve got a good platform already to start with.”

McLeod, who currently owns a three-car Xfinity Series operation, recently brought his organization to the Cup Series. McLeod and Garrett Smithley combined to make 12 starts in his No. 78 Chevrolet this season as a non-charter team.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Feedback from Next Gen car "wasn't as good" on Charlotte oval

Next article Morgan Shepherd diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

1 h

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

1 h

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Phoenix II

1 h

Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride

Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux

FIA F2

F2 FIA F2 2 h

Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts