Tony Stewart to drive wife Leah's NHRA Top Fuel dragster in 2024
NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart is going to race a Top Fuel dragster in the NHRA next year.
Stewart, a three-time champion of the NASCAR Cup Series, competed in the Top Alcohol dragster division for McPhillips Racing over the past year. He ended 2023 as the championship runner-up, losing out to Julie Nataas.
The 52-year-old is a busy man, fielding a Top Fuel dragster for his wife Leah Pruett and Funny Car driver Matt Hagan. He also runs a Sprint Car team and is the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR where he fields two full-time Xfinity cars and a four-car Cup team.
Stewart's wife Leah will sit out the 2024 season as she and Stewart focus on starting a family. He will take her place in the Top Fuel dragster, saying in a release from the team: "I am very proud of my wife. To make a decision like this has got to be extremely hard. I don’t think from a male’s perspective that we can fully grasp it. To be a competitive, professional race car driver and have to make the decision to take yourself out of the seat to start a family is not a position most males would want to be put in. We had discussed starting a family and this was her decision. In those discussions, we came to the conclusion that the timing was up to her. I was very supportive as to whether she wanted to do it now or years from now. I’m very humbled that Leah and [crew chief Neal Strausbaugh] felt I was the driver to fill in for her. I feel honored that I can do that for my wife and this team.”
Speaking on the decision to step out of the driver's seat, Pruett said: "Drag racing has been an important part of my life for over three quarters of my life. 27 years of racing in the NHRA has molded who I am and I am extremely grateful for the life it has given me. Through a long series of thought processes and a decision that did not happen overnight, I feel that stepping out of the seat right now is what’s best for myself and Tony to start a family.”
Along with being a three-time champion of the NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart's career as a driver includes titles in IndyCar, USAC, IROC, and the SRX Series he founded. Could he add NHRA to that list in 2024?
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