Tony Stewart and his McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol dragster have been disqualified from the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals.
Stewart made two qualifying runs on Friday with a best elapsed time of 5.256 seconds at 271.02 mph, placing him fourth on the timesheets heading into Saturday. However, during post-run inspection on Friday night, unapproved ignition parts were discovered on the dragster.
As a result, NHRA issued a disqualification penalty to Stewart on Saturday afternoon.Â
“He has been disqualified from the event and zero points will be awarded, per the NHRA rulebook,” the official statement read.Â
Prior to the disqualification, Stewart was the Top Alcohol points leader, 64 points ahead of Julie Nataas.Â