AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Legendary racer Tony Stewart continues to rewrite his historic motorsports career each week in the NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series.
Wheeling his Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel dragster on Sunday, Stewart drove to his first professional final round appearance in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Stewart, in just his fourth Top Fuel race, was quick off the starting line and quick on the track by advancing in two rounds of competition to the delight of the huge crowd who rooted him on throughout the weekend, and he took on veteran competitors Doug Kalitta, Justin Ashley and Steve Torrence in the Top Fuel final round.
Stewart was impressive with quick reaction times and solid runs of 3.773, 3.754 and 3.769 before losing the final to Kalitta’s 3.715. The final round appearance vaulted Stewart into the sixth position in the current NHRA Mission Top Fuel points standings as the NHRA tour travels to zMAX Dragway, outside of Charlotte, N.C., on April 26-28.
Despite qualifying 11th in the Top Fuel field, Stewart proved to be impressive with a transfer spot in round one and a victory in round two. In the final round, the NASCAR Hall of Famer clicked a quick 0.050 second reaction time but Kalitta’s 3.715 took the victory.
“I’m proud of the progress this team is making right now,” said Stewart after his final round appearance. “We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted, but, with the Four-Wide format, I don’t feel it is that important for eliminations. We transferred in the first quad (four cars) round and then, we outright won the next round and that makes us feel like we are gaining on it. I told the team that we are way ahead of where we were last week at Phoenix. And that was way ahead of the runs at Gainesville and Pomona,” Stewart continued.
“I feel like the team is doing a great job improving with each race, and we are in the window that we can make some small adjustments and pick up speed. We will focus on the positive moving forward. Today (Sunday), I was leaving on good lights and got a 50 (.050 of a second) in the final. I wanted to be consistent on the lights, and that is the best for me as a rookie driver in Top Fuel. I’m looking forward to Charlotte now.”