Tony Stewart links 2025 NHRA win to huge 2009 NASCAR achievement

After his win at NHRA's Top Fuel at Las Vegas, racing legend Tony Stewart has compared this recent success to his surprise NASCAR All-Star Race win in 2009. 

Stewart took home his first NHRA Top Fuel win at the 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Vegas Motor Speedway. At a speed of 317.42 mph in 3.870 seconds, he pipped reigning world champion Antron Brown at the post.

“I’ve been a motorsports fan my entire life, and I feel like what we did [the win] is history-making in motorsports as a whole. I don’t think there’s ever been a driver to win an IndyCar race, a NASCAR race, a [USAC] Triple Crown, and win an NHRA Top Fuel race,” Stewart said following his win.

“So to do this and do it with our own team and our family … I think probably the one thing that may not sink in as much right now, but it’s already starting to, is when Leah brought Dom [their 5-month old son] up on the stage there when we were doing the interview after that, that’s an emotion that you can’t even think about or dream of.

“And when I saw her coming up those steps with him, my heart stopped. As much as I love winning this race for our team and for myself and for our family, seeing her bring him up there, that was a feeling I’ve never had in my life before. And I have a feeling when I lay down and put my head on a pillow tonight, that’s going to be the one thing that I’m going to reflect on most.”

The 53-year-old has already seen him dominate NASCAR, with three Cup Series championships to his name in 2002, 2005, and 2011. He was further named one of the sport's greatest drivers, with 49 Cup race wins under his belt.

Tony Stewart

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

"I was so excited just to have won that race for myself until the team got up there," Stewart told the media on Tuesday. "... It brought me back to a moment back in 2009 when we started Stewart-Haas Racing, and I remember winning the All-Star Race at Charlotte and getting to victory lane.

"I was in that mode, here people were telling me I was crazy to leave Joe Gibbs Racing to go to a team that had a car 34th and 36th in the points and I had ruined my career by doing it. Here we were from February to May ... we win the highest paying event of the year with the All-Star Race.

"... They used to pull a semi trailer up there and the crew guys would sit on the edge of that trailer. I remember looking on there and half of those guys were in tears. I looked at one of the guys and I'm like, 'What is wrong? What happened?'

"They said that group of guys had never won a NASCAR Cup Series race. That moment, I realized it was not about me, it was not about me proving to all the naysayers that I was going to fail with Stewart-Haas.

"It was way deeper than that. It was about the guys and the people that we had put together and the people we had kept from Haas Racing and want it meant to all of us. That's exactly what Sunday turned into as well [after his NHRA win]."