“I didn’t even know if I was coming back”: Tony Stewart candidly reflects on his ‘amazing’ NHRA season after birth of his son Dominic 

Tony Stewart wrote a tweet on X where he looked back on his 2025 NHRA Top Fuel season and how much had changed for him after becoming a father. Stewart and Leah Pruett welcomed Dominic James Stewart on November 17, 2024.

The 2025 season became one of Stewart’s strongest. He won the Top Fuel Regular Season Championship and reached final rounds at Pomona, New England, and Indianapolis.

The 54-year-old earned his first Top Fuel win at the Las Vegas Four-Wide National, then won again in Chicago. In the post, Tony Stewart wrote,

"To sit there and think of a year ago when we went to Pomona for the finale and I didn’t even know if I was going to be coming back on race day. Here we are, and Dominic’s a year old. To have the experience at the racetrack with him this season was something that we can’t even put into words. You can’t plan ahead and think about what it’s going to feel like, you just have to live it and experience it."

Stewart reset his career-best elapsed time at 3.679 seconds and his career-best speed at 335.15 mph in St. Louis. He also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Bristol and earned his first No. 1 qualifier.

The Indiana-born driver's 2025 All-Stars Championship points in Top Alcohol Dragster included 43 points in Bowling Green and 85 in St. Louis for a total of 128 eligible points. In the 2025 National Championship for Top Fuel, he scored steadily across the season.

Tony Stewart's early races included Gainesville, Phoenix and Pomona. Strong results followed in Las Vegas, Charlotte, Chicago and Epping. He continued scoring in Bristol, Richmond, Norwalk, Seattle, Sonoma, Brainerd and Indianapolis, where he got 139 points.

Stewart ended the year with 2364 points after the November event in Las Vegas. In the 2025 Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout, he again posted strong results, earning major scores at Charlotte, Brainerd, and Indianapolis, and finishing with 130 points at Pomona.

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Tony Stewart stays focused after US Nationals loss

At the Cornwell Tools US Nationals Tony Stewart felt both proud and disappointed. He was proud to win the Top Fuel Regular Season Championship but disappointed to miss out on a US Nationals win in his home state of Indiana.

Stewart reached his eighth career drag racing final on September 1 and his fifth in Top Fuel. He beat Steve Torrence, Kyle Wurtzel and Jasmine Salinas. Justin Ashley then beat him in the final.

Even with the loss Tony Stewart ended the event on top of the regular season points standings ahead of drivers like Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta. He will enter the Countdown as the No. 1 seed and earned a 150000 dollar bonus. The 57-year-old wrote about the weekend on X.

“Winning the @NHRA Top Fuel Regular Season Championship is massive for us in my eyes. But even then, there was nothing I wanted more than to win the final round and take home the U.S. Nationals trophy. We made a great pass in the final and I had a great .053 light, but @TheJustinAshley was psychic on the tree with an .027 RT, winning the final round on a holeshot. All in all, we accomplished a lot this weekend, and this TSR Nitro team is ready to take on the countdown.”

This followed earlier wins at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals and the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua