Tony Stewart Says He’s Hooked On Drag Racing

It’s no secret that Tony Stewart truly did fall in love with drag racing.

He fell in love with Top Fuel racer Leah Pruett first.

But he said something surprising about his future in the straight-line sport: “I love what we do with NHRA, but I will tell you this – and she knows this, as well…when we thought about starting the ownership side of NHRA, if Leah retired tomorrow, I would still be involved in the same capacity that I am right now. It has nothing to do with our relationship.”

Stewart said his wife “just helped set the hook on getting me addicted to NHRA. So I’m here. It’s where my heart is. I love all the things we do. I love my NASCAR teams. I love my sprint car teams [and] Eldora Speedway [the oval at Rossburg, Ohio, that he owns]. I love what we have going on. Just some of the smaller things that we have in our schedule right now are going to, unfortunately, have to go – and I think it’s a good thing.”

He didn’t specify what projects will receive less attention, but he made it clear that drag racing won’t be one. He has signed on with the McPhillips Racing team to compete for a full season in the Top Alcohol Dragster class in the Lucas Oil Series. Because of his FOX Sports commentary commitments, Stewart will miss the Seattle and Topeka events, but he’ll race at a dozen of them and might even enter a regional event or two. Teams owners Rich McPhillips Sr. and Jr. have their eyes on a championship – and Stewart was alright with that.

This is the most excited I’ve been going into a racing season in a long time, to have the opportunity to know it’s not just test sessions or a one-off race, that I get to run with a team.

“When we initially talked about what our plan was and what the wish list would be for this year, it was strictly just to run the national races,” Stewart said. But even before he posted a runner-up finish last October at Las Vegas, McPhillips Sr., without fail, would punctuate each conversation with a little suggestion: “Don’t forget – we might need to run some regional races, too, if we get a good start to the season.” Even as Stewart prepared to run March 1-5 at the so-called “Baby Gators,” the divisional Lucas Oil Series event that precedes the Camping World Series’ legendary Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., McPhillips sent him a text message that listed his pick of regional events.

“So I am fairly certain in Rich Sr.’s mind…