NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart is set to embark on his second full season behind the wheel of a Top Fuel dragster.
Stewart, who shocked the motorsports world in late 2023 with the announcement of filling in for his wife, Leah Pruett, for the full NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series slate in 2024 as they planned to start a family, was jumping off the deep end.
The driver nicknamed “Smoke” had been a circle track racer for decades. During that time, he reached the pinnacle in multiple series as a multi-time champion and countless race winner on dirt and asphalt.
However, transitioning to drag racing’s premiere series was a new beast to conquer.
Heading into 2024, Stewart was prepared as one could be following a runner-up season competing for NHRA’s National Top Alcohol title.
While question marks loomed on how the racing legend would adapt to 330-plus mph passes in a Top Fuel car, Stewart admitted his comfort level rose “earlier than I even anticipated.”
“I think by the third race, I was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable and I would say for sure, by midpoint of the season,” Stewart said.
“I know there’s scenarios that haven’t happened yet that I’m going to have to deal with on a run. But for the most part, I felt like I’d been through enough stuff that I felt comfortable in the team meetings at the end of the weekend, the crew chief and the guys are telling you you’re doing a good job driving the car.
“As long as you’re getting that endorsement from those guys, because they’re the ones that are putting all the labor into it.”
An added bonus for Stewart was having two built-in driver coaches at his side in wife Pruett and Funny Car driver Matt Hagan.
“Having Leah and Matt as coaches, I mean, I had all the resources available to me to have a successful rookie season,” Stewart said.
“With those guys’ help, I got comfortable very quick.”
While Stewart was unable to hoist a Wally in his first year of Top Fuel competition, he earned rookie-of-the-year honors. Ironically, it was Stewart’s first rookie award in 26 years when he took the NASCAR Cup Series tour by storm in 1999.
The 53-year-old “rookie” reached the final round twice and earned four semifinal appearances. On top of that, Stewart averaged the fourth-best reaction time (0.070 seconds) out of all Top Fuel drivers.
As someone whose roots are deeply tied in side-by-side racing on oval tracks, any tendencies Stewart learned in his extremely successful open-wheel or stock car career are practically useless.
“I think the drag racing side is so drastically different from everything else that you haven’t had to worry about breaking bad habits because you didn’t have any habits over here,” Stewart said.
“It literally was starting from a blank sheet of paper. Having the ability to watch for a couple years and be Leah’s boyfriend and then Leah’s husband and be at the race track and watch her and watch Matt.
“That kind of led into my opportunity to run in the alcohol class and still having Leah’s mentorship there,” Stewart continued. “Leah, a lot of times, was able to come watch my alcohol run.
“I think that really made the learning process much, much easier and much more enjoyable.
“There’s very, very few times that I feel like the things that really made me good in circle track racing really applies to the drag racing side now. It’s just a totally different discipline.”
Stewart will head into this season with a large part of the learning process behind him and plenty to look forward to as he showed flashes of what’s to come.
