After retiring from full-time racing in 2016, NASCAR legend Tony Stewart made a surprising return to the race track last year, albeit in a very different form: NHRA drag racing. At the age of 52, Stewart finds himself back on the competitive stage, but this time, his races are incredibly brief, lasting only about five and a half seconds. Now, the question arises: has this shift in his racing endeavors also shifted his focus away from his NASCAR racing team and drivers?

Stewart’s driver, Kevin Harvick, had high hopes in his last season with the team. Despite consistently strong performances throughout the season, Harvick fell short of accumulating the necessary points to advance to the next round of playoffs. Even more disappointingly, he couldn’t secure a race win in his final season with Tony Stewart’s team. Yet, amid all this, at the age of 52, Tony Stewart himself is making remarkable records in a different realm of racing.

Tony Stewart outshines Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick faced a precarious situation with a slim 7-point lead, occupying the 12th spot in the standing ahead of the Bristol race. However, his 29th-place finish proved insufficient to propel him to the next round of playoffs. Later, Kevin Harvick publicly shared the factors that ruined his last race. And he was not shy about criticizing his team.

After being eliminated from the playoffs at Bristol, the veteran driver expressed his sadness, saying, “We’ve been like that all year, and we’ve been hit or miss, and tonight we just missed by a mile.”

“I’ve had some good days and bad days, but that’s definitely the worst one I’ve had with fenders on it.” He even said, “I didn’t really have many expectations, you know, with this up and down year. It is what it is, and that’s probably about what we deserve.” Meanwhile, his team owner, Tony Stewart, is busy amassing accolades in NHRA racing.

Tony Stewart, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, has been pursuing an NHRA championship during his first full-time season racing in NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster class. His impressive performance included a run of 5.213 seconds at 271.19 mph, securing a victory over Madison Payne at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading.

This marked his second national event win, in addition to two divisional wins, totaling four wins in his inaugural full year of NHRA competition as a driver. Tony’s latest win also propelled him to the top of the points standings with a total of 636 points, surpassing his competition and leaving Julie Nataas trailing behind in the highly competitive Top Alcohol class.

As per Autoweek.com, reflecting on his victory, Tony Stewart remarked, “To win for Rich and Richie (McPhillips) and all their friends and family here, a win is always special but to do it under these circumstances at a home race for them is that much more special. We are having a lot of fun doing this and I’m happy to have the points lead back.”

Tony Stewart discussed the formidable challenge of piloting a car at 300mph at the age of 52 in the NHRA, highlighting the difficulty of such a feat.

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“Harder than I thought”- Tony Stewart Unveils the real challenge of NHRA

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While Stewart himself participates in the Top Alcohol Dragster division, where typical performances hover around 5.1 seconds at 285 mph in short-track racing, it’s worth noting that this division doesn’t represent the pinnacle of drag car speed. In contrast, his wife Leah Pruett races in the Top Fuel category, where cars can reach blazing speeds of up to 330 mph in just 3.8 seconds.

This transition has required Stewart, a seasoned NASCAR driver, to adapt to a vastly different racing experience. Instead of the leisurely pace of a two-hour race, NHRA drag racing demands split-second precision and intense acceleration.

As per Indystar.com, Tony Stewart said, “The acceleration rate in this car is also just so incredible, so your brain is processing the information as fast as it’s happening, and it’s much harder than I thought it would be.”

Kevin Harvick has only seven races remaining in his career. Do you think he will manage to win any of them?

Kevin Harvick Publicly Slams Tony Stewart in 5-Word Deceleration for Ruining His Last Race at Bristol