After a storied NASCAR career with three Cup championships and nearly 50 wins, Tony Stewart didn’t retire into silence. Instead, he built a bridge into a whole new world: drag racing. In October 2021, Stewart announced that his team, Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), would join the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series starting in 2022, with Leah Pruett in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan in Funny Car.

By 2024, he stepped into the driver’s seat himself, taking over Pruett’s Top Fuel Dragster duties while she stepped back for family reasons. This move showed how much he was embracing the new challenge, not just managing, but pushing himself again at 300+ mph on a straight track rather than in corners.

Now, after a terrifying crash at the 2025 NHRA Reading Nationals, Stewart opened up to Dale Earnhardt Jr

See Full Page