The new season will mark one of considerable change at Tony Stewart Racing, as one driver looks to add another chapter to his historic racing legacy, and another defends his.
The team’s patriarch, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and IndyCar series champion Tony Stewart, one of the most successful figures in the history of auto racing, will enter professional drag racing competition on a full-time basis for the first time, graduating from Top Alcohol Dragster to Top Fuel, in the seat formerly held by his wife, Leah Pruett. Stewart, whose involvement in drag racing came to be during the pandemic in 2020 when his romantic relationship began with Pruett, has made numerous high-profile testing runs in a Top Fuel dragster over the last three seasons, but the season=-opening NHRA Gatornationals will mark his competition debut in the category.
For Matt Hagan, 2024 will be a season of defense, after capturing is fourth NHRA Funny Car world championship last fall, becoming just the fourth driver in history to win four titles in the class. Hagan will again enter the season as a favorite.
Despite his rookie status, Stewart will pilot a car that came within a car length of the Top Fuel championship a season ago, marking him as a strong candidate to become the first rookie Top Fuel champion since Gary Scelzi in 1997.
Both Stewart and Hagan will begin their journeys in new-look race cars in 2024, as their Mopar Direct Connection machines — Stewart’s dragster and Hagan’s Dodge Charger SRT Funny Car — go from the unforgettably-bold Sublime-colored machines of a year ago, to a racey new red scheme. Both cars will make their debuts in front of an anticipated packed house at Gainesville Raceway March 8-10, as the 21-race NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour gets underway.
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