AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — NASCAR Hall of Fame racer Tony Stewart is rapidly approaching his NHRA Top Fuel debut at the season-opening Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway.
He will compete the Tony Stewart Racing Dodge/SRT Direct Connection dragster during the 21-race season, starting with the NHRA Amalie Gatornationals March 8-10.
Stewart, a former series champion in NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC competition, enters his fourth motorsports discipline at the highest level with the Top Fuel division in NHRA, as the Indiana driver makes his Top Fuel rookie showing in an 11,000-horsepower dragster at Gainesville Raceway.
“I’m trying to get through this learning curve right now with the Top Fuel dragster,” said Stewart, who took over driving duties for wife Leah Pruett after she made the decision to sit out the 2024 campaign to start a family.
Pruett will serve as strategist and driving coach for the TSR team.
“This is probably one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced in my racing career. I’ve been through so many divisions and types of racecars that I have had to learn in my career, and this might be the toughest of all of them. Now just trying to figure these cars will be the most exciting part of it for me,” Stewart said.
“I think it’s a huge advantage for a rookie in my situation. I have confidence in the team, and I know that they are way stronger at this point of the season than I am. It gives me a big confidence boost. It allows me to literally just work on all the little nuances in learning how to drive a new car.
“This is way different than anything I’ve ever done in motorsports in my life. It’s not like a NASCAR or IndyCar track where I can go and make 100 laps in a day easily. This is a situation where on a great day, you’re going to have four maybe five runs in testing, so every lap that we get is super important right now,” Stewart concluded.