Tony Stewart Wins First NHRA National Event As Las Vegas

Hall of Fame racer Tony Stewart claimed his first career NHRA national event victory Sunday in front of a capacity crowd at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Stewart, who made his NHRA debut last season in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, won in just his fourth career start, going 5.324-seconds at 269.62 mph in the final round in his Mobil 1 dragster. The legendary racer was the runner-up in his NHRA debut at the fall race in Las Vegas last year. The win on Sunday gives Stewart wins in NHRA, NASCAR and IndyCar, as well as victories on every track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“When we raced here last fall, I was just ecstatic to make the finals, but today I told Leah (Pruett, wife and Top Fuel racer), ‘I’m not happy to just be in the finals today. I said I want this,’” Stewart said. “I thoroughly enjoyed four-wide racing. I’ll be honest, to me, it feels like it kind of brings that short track feel, like the first few rounds it felt like heat races. It’s hard not to like it when you win, but I think it’s a cool deal.”

“I know my win isn’t a win in the pro series class, but I’m really proud of it. The field has been tight all weekend and it was tight last year in the fall. We are racers and we always want to win. No one likes losing. I think it was the perfect situation last year with Madison (Payne) winning her first national race and the rookie finishing second.

“The beginning of the season has been super difficult with this new car. We went testing and found a couple things that were wrong and went through the car with a fine-toothed comb to make it better. I knew as soon as I did the burnout on Friday that this was a better car. It was a hard day on Friday because it shook both sessions. We found the speed and got it balanced and need more runs to get it dialed-in. The third qualifying session was important because we weren’t yet qualified, so that run is the only one we have for data with this setup. It shows why Rich McPhillips has been as successful as he has because he can sit there and pick apart sections of the racetrack that we need to be better at. I’m so proud of my whole McPhillips Racing crew and their hard work.”