{"id":48595,"date":"2024-10-12T21:53:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T02:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=48595"},"modified":"2024-10-12T21:53:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T02:53:27","slug":"stewart-blasts-into-nhra-fallnationals-on-final-qualifying-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/12\/stewart-blasts-into-nhra-fallnationals-on-final-qualifying-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Stewart blasts into NHRA FallNationals on final qualifying pass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart made a pass in the fourth qualifying session that was clocked at 3.816-seconds and 327.25 mph to secure the 15th spot on Sunday\u2019s 16-car eliminations ladder. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

ENNIS \u2013 Tony Stewart puckered-up and dodged the dreaded first DNQ of his rookie Top Fuel season during final-round qualifying Saturday afternoon for the 39th<\/sup> annual Texas NHRA FallNationals.<\/p>\n

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Tony Stewart is competing in his first season in the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel class. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Stewart covered the 1,000-foot distance at Texas Motorplex in 3.816-seconds and 327.25 mph to bag the 15th<\/sup> spot on Sunday\u2019s 16-car eliminations ladder. Stewart\u2019s previous three passes this weekend in the black-and-gold 50th<\/sup> anniversary Tony Stewart Racing Mobil1 Dodge\/\/SRT dragster had gone up in tire smoke, leaving the NASCAR Hall of Famer 18th<\/sup> in a field of 19 entries after an aborted lap of 4.586-seconds at 165.03 mph.<\/p>\n

But the frustrations of Stewart and veteran crew chief Neal Strasbaugh were momentarily relieved by \u201cSmoke\u2019s\u201d Point A-to-B pass in the summer-like Texas heat at 4:30 p.m. That pass bumped Scott Palmer and his best run of 3.883-seconds out of the race day program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s days like this that you hate,\u201d said Stewart, who had qualified for the season\u2019s previous 17 races without drama. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have been in the position we were in going into the final round of qualifying like this. That part\u2019s frustrating, but the guys have been rock-solid. We\u2019ve just got to do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recall that Stewart\u2019s wife, Leah Pruett, won this event last year with the same car and team en route to a third-place finish in the final season standings topped by first-time champion Doug Kalitta. For the record, Pruett trailered (in order) 2013 world champion Shawn Langdon, Kalitta, Clay Millican and four-time world champ Steve Torrence at The Plex one year ago.<\/p>\n

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Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart. Photo courtesy of the NHRA<\/p><\/div>\n

Pruett \u2013 who finished 57 points\/two rounds of racing behind Kalitta _ officially exited the car in December so she and her hubby could start a family. That life-changing event \u2013 the couple\u2019s first son \u2013 is anticipated around Nov. 20, one day before their third wedding anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m starting to feel like I\u2019m cursed or something,\u201d Stewart said during his top-end interview. \u201cLeah almost won a world championship with this team and I can\u2019t get out of my own damn way with it. So, just proud to get this Mobil 1 50th<\/sup> anniversary car in the race because they deserve it. They\u2019ve been a great partner of ours for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FallNats is the 18th<\/sup> of 20 races in the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Round 4 of the six-event Countdown to the Championship playoffs and culmination of the 10-day \u201cStampede of Speed\u201d at Hall of Famer Billy Meyer\u2019s facility. Stewart began the weekend ninth in points, 194 behind leader and three-time world champion Antron Brown.<\/p>\n

Brittany Force, the Top Fuel world champion in 2017 and 2022, qualified P1 with a pass in 3.667-seconds at 338.19 mph in the HendrickCars.com\/Chevrolet dragster fielded by John Force Racing. Force posted her fourth pole of the season and landmark 50th<\/sup> of her stellar career. During her post-qually presser, Brit said she certainly could relate to Stewart\u2019s pressurized situation.<\/p>\n

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Brittany Force, Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough place to be,\u201d said Force, whose 13-15 won\/loss record (.464) actually ranks one spot behind Stewart\u2019s 15-17 (.469). \u201cNobody wants to go into the final qualifying session fighting their way in. There\u2019s an outstanding number of cars here and you\u2019ve got to fight to get into that top-16. So it definitely puts a lot of pressure on the driver, on the crew chief, on the whole team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the driver, you\u2019re looking down that racetrack hoping your car will go and you put a number on the board that gets you in the show. It’s very stressful but it\u2019s part of the game. We all deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Stewart has emerged as his own harshest critic during a season that has included a loss in his lone final-round appearance against Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re doing all right,\u201d Stewart said during an interview at the 14th<\/sup> annual Smoke Show charity event earlier this week at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. \u201cI mean, from the driving side\u2026when we left the U.S. Nationals I was tied for fifth in average reaction time _ was tied with Tony Schumacher. That\u2019s pretty good company, to be with an eight-time world champion. If you ask my wife, if you ask the team _ at least what they tell me in the team meeting at the end of the day on race day _ they\u2019re happy with what I\u2019m doing driving the car.<\/p>\n

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Tony Stewart. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely different than running a 500-mile race (at TMS), way different to manage expectations and a way different skill-set. You\u2019re in a Cup car for three-and-a-half hours; it\u2019s three-and-a-half seconds (at The Plex). It\u2019s make it\/take it, miss it\/kiss it. It\u2019s like playing H-O-R-S-E in the backyard. There\u2019s no re-dos, no \u2018let me change this\u2019. You get one shot to do it and if you do it right you get to go to the next round. If not, you start loading stuff up. It\u2019s definitely a different environment for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart said he and his wife have learned to adjust to their new roles \u2013 Tony as over-eager student and Leah as Professor of Nitromethane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she was more worried about that aspect than I was when we knew she wanted to start a family and I got named to drive the car,\u201d said Stewart, 53. \u201cI think she was a little more worried about how I was going to be with her coaching than I was.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we communicate very, very well. I told her, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do this 98 percent of the way right, I want to do it 100 percent.\u2019 So if there\u2019s something I leave on the table, two percent or less, I want to know what it is so I can try to make it better. Literally, the first third, the first half of the season, she would sit there and critique every little thing about the run that I did _ I mean, even if I didn\u2019t pull the chutes early enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tony Stewart finished the regular season in the top 10 and is competing in the Countdown to the Championship in Top Fuel this season. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Stewart, whose versatility has drawn comparisons to motorsports legends A.J. Foyt Jr. and Mario Andretti, has won professional auto races in more types of vehicles than any current driver in North America. That list includes events in NASCAR (Cup, Xfinity and Truck), INDYCAR, USAC (Triple Crown), World of Outlaws and All-Star Sprint Cars, IROC, SRX, Chili Bowl, Turkey Night Grand Prix and Dirt Modifieds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal, as quickly as possible, was to look like it wasn\u2019t my first year driving a Top Fuel car,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cLeah\u2019s been a great coach and now the compliment for me is when I come in and she doesn\u2019t even talk to me about the run anymore. She\u2019s happy with what I\u2019m doing, and I\u2019m doing it right. Between her and Matt Hagan (TSR\u2019s Funny Car driver and four-time\/reigning world champion), they\u2019re both excellent teachers. They\u2019re a cliff notes version of how to run in a Pro class in NHRA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart made his NHRA debut on the Motorplex\u2019s famed all-concrete surface last season in Top Alcohol Dragster, qualifying ninth and advancing to Round 2 during eliminations. Stewart returned to TAD this season with immediate success, running a five-race schedule in a familiar McPhillips Racing TAD entry. Stewart racked up three wins, one runnerup result and one semifinal finish for team-owner Richie McPhillips to secure the NHRA North Central Division TAD championship in NHRA\u2019s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 3.<\/p>\n

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Tony Stewart recently won NHRA North Central Division TAD championship in NHRA\u2019s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 3. Courtesy photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe five races that you claim, they take your best four toward the regional championship. Looks good on the resume,\u201d Stewart joked, \u201cin case I want to be a professional driver one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The highlight of Tony\u2019s Top Fuel season to-date occurred during the 36th<\/sup> annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway on July 28, when he reached his first nitro final against Brown. But even that accomplishment didn\u2019t escape scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, I wouldn\u2019t say it was a great day,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cOn surface value it was a great day but we weren\u2019t running well. We had lost to Jasmine Salinas two consecutive races first-round and that was very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart left the line first against Antron, but Brown tracked him down at 3.746-seconds and 329.67 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools\/Toyota dragster to earn his 77th career victory. Brown defeated Shawn Reed, Steve Torrence and Force to reach the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Tony know each other well,\u201d Brown said that afternoon. \u201cWhen I started as a team-owner he was putting together TSR, we talked a lot about budgets and spreadsheets and all that. He was also a hero of mine when he ran NASCAR and INDYCAR. I know how good of a driver he is. He understands the science, so as soon as he showed up I knew what he could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart reached the Sonoma final by defeating Langdon, Justin Ashley and Ron August Jr., who had upset point-leader, No. 1 qualifier and reigning world champion Kalitta in Round 1.<\/p>\n

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NHRA Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSonoma was positive from the standpoint we found one of the variables that was holding us back,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cBut when you look at race day we ran Shawn Langdon first round. Shawn should have beat us, smoked the tires. Second round, Justin Ashley smoked the tires. We left on him, but he still smoked the tires.  And third round we had the guy (August) who had the bye run in the second round, but he did beat Doug Kalitta first round. We had holes (cylinders) go out, shouldn\u2019t have won that round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say we won our rounds, we just didn\u2019t lose them. Shawn and Justin, we didn\u2019t beat those guys. They just lost to us. We beat Ron, but on paper we were supposed to beat him.  Antron, we ran way better and actually gave him a fair fight. We had a cylinder go out that cost us, but we were in the hunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope and pray I win a Top Fuel race. And I hope and pray the day I do win one it\u2019s because I won four rounds, not because somebody else lost rounds. I\u2019ve only got three more shots at it (this season), so I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown noted he was among the NHRA regulars who urged Stewart to make the jump into Top Fuel. \u201cI did tell him to come on over,\u201d Brown said, \u201cbut there are a lot of sharks in the water here. His time is coming and it won\u2019t be one win. It will be a lot of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reminded of Brown\u2019s comments, Stewart smiled and said, \u201cI hope Antron\u2019s right. I\u2019m rooting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio ENNIS \u2013 Tony Stewart puckered-up and dodged the dreaded first DNQ of his rookie Top Fuel season during final-round qualifying Saturday afternoon for the 39th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals. Stewart covered the 1,000-foot distance at Texas Motorplex in 3.816-seconds and 327.25 mph to bag the 15th spot on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":48570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,841,328,879,68,878],"class_list":["post-48595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-nhra","tag-stampede-of-speed","tag-texas-motorplex","tag-texas-nhra-fallnationals","tag-tony-stewart","tag-top-fuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dtfri-57.jpg?fit=2000%2C1332&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cDN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48595"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48631,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48595\/revisions\/48631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}