NASCAR legend Tony Stewart to return to Chicago area racetrack as rookie drag racer
CHICAGO (CBS) – Tony Stewart is already a NASCAR legend, but he's back racing full time on a very different circuit.
His nickname is Smoke, because when he first started racing, he struggled with throttle control and the haze of smoke off the tire was a lot.
Stewart's gotten better, so much so that he's now all throttle in his latest gig as a drag racer.
"It's a drastically different experience," Stewart said.
Going 1,000 feet at over 330 miles per hour is not exactly what Tony Stewart is used to. The NASCAR Hall of Famer who dominated short tracks and stock car racing is now drag racing full-time in his first year in NHRA's Top Fuel division.
"It's been like a whirlwind because it is so outside the norm of what I'm used to," Stewart said. "Everything that I did in NASCAR and IndyCar and Sprint Car racing on dirt and sports cars kinda fell under the same bubble, but drag racing is kinda off on fantasy island on its own deal.
"It has definitely gotten me out of my comfort zone. But when you do it with your wife, it puts you back in a comfort zone."
Stewart has stepped into the driver's seat, filling his wife's spot. Leah Pruett, who nearly won the top fuel championship in 2023, has stepped away from driving to focus on starting a family.
"I've always known that I wanted a family, but I've always been a drag racer, 28 years of straight drag racing," Pruett said. "But as life changes, you change with it and so, once Tony and I were together for four years and created a space of somewhat security that I never had before and he created an opportunity for me to step out. And in that, the conversation was, 'Well, who steps in?' And when we started that conversation, Tony did not have a ton of drag racing experience, so we took about the last six months of last year and really dialed it in.
"He is just absolutely blowing away any expectations that I had, which they were already pretty high being Tony Stewart.
She added Stewart is "just mastering the skill and for me, I get to see my husband enjoying something. You know, motorsports is his heart, no matter what it is, and to see him excel in that makes me happy, and not regretting any moment of stepping out."
Reporter: "So you're teaching Tony Stewart how to race?"
Pruett: "Drag race. I think we're gonna preface that with drag race, but yes."
Now, the Stewart and Pruett combo is getting set to head to the Route 66 Nationals, bringing Stewart back to the Chicagoland Speedway in southwest suburban Joliet, where he won three cup races, more than any other driver.
"I'm looking forward to it," Stewart said. "I've had the luxury of running the mile-and-a-half track, obviously. I've ran the dirt track that's right besides the drag strips and now I'm gonna get the trifecta at Chicagoland and get to run all three racetracks."
He added, "the Joliet area and that side of Chicago has a huge motor racing influence. A lot of our friends who used to watch us in open wheel cars growing up are gonna come to the race and get to see us do something totally outside of the box."
Stewart said he already knows how many people are coming. Being from Southern Indiana, he'll have friends come out to see what he called a "second home race."
So what was his favorite memory in Joliet?
"The ones where you win," he said. "Those are the most fun."
Fans can catch Stewart in two weeks at the Route 66 Raceway. He'll be on the NHRA Pro Stock All-Star callout. Meanwhile, his wife said she absolutely does want to eventually return to drag car racing, but she's just focusing on having a baby first.