After a 27-month hiatus from drag racing, NHRA fan favorite Leah Pruett is back, ready to pick up where she left off and complete some unfinished business.

Two years after marrying NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart (who picked up the drag racing bug from his wife and now enters his fourth full-time season in NHRA), Pruett stepped out of her 335-mph Top Fuel dragster after the 2023 season for a calling even bigger and better than drag racing:

Motherhood.

After giving birth to the couple’s first child, Dominic, in November 2024, Pruett began planning her comeback behind the wheel. Even though some media outlets pronounced her retired, she never officially called it quits, insisting that one day she’d be back racing.

And that time is now.

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Pruett, 37, returns to NHRA Top Fuel competition next week (March 6-8) in the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.

“I love being back, every part of it,” Pruett said. “The focus, the hustle, the long days and nights, the progress, the immediate turnarounds, the satisfaction that I do not feel that I have been out of the seat for two years, the positive results of applying new strategies inside the cockpit that work, and kicking others to the absolute curb.

“It sounds funny, but I’ve let all superstitions go, and even frames of mind that have held me bound, which is absolutely freeing.”

In a sense, Stewart kept Pruett’s seat at Tony Stewart Racing warm for her, finishing ninth in his first Top Fuel season in 2024 and improving to fifth in 2025 as her temporary replacement. Now that his wife is back in her dragster, he’s proud of what she’s done in the past and what she’ll do in the future.

“I’m excited to see Leah get back in our TSR Dodge Top Fueler,” Stewart said. “She’s done such an amazing job of becoming a mother, going through a whole year of pregnancy and our first year with Dominic. I knew deep down inside she wanted to drive that race car really bad, so I’m just excited to see her get that opportunity again. She has been a critical part of this team’s success and projects that we’re working on. And I know she wants to drive that car more than anything.”

Stewart has already heard more than his share of good-natured razzing from fellow drivers, like will he sleep on the sofa if he beats her in a race.

“And yes, with me in another Top Fuel car, we are going to have to race against each other this year,” Stewart said. “At first, I wasn’t sure about that. But I win in both situations. If I win the race, I move on to the next round. If Leah wins, my race team moves on to the next round. So, it’s a win-win for me.”

Pruett admits the comeback attempt concerned her at first.

“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t totally sure that my passion for the sport was still there on the driving side,” she said. “But once I got behind the wheel again, it was like I never left. My competitive spirit jumped right out again. I’m ready to go.

“And if I have to race Tony, then I’m set to beat him and he knows it. That matchup could happen as soon as the Gatornationals. Tony, myself, our respective teams and the fans will be ready for that one!” 

Pruett understands the implications of racing her husband and boss, who although owns TSR, he’s moved to drive Elite Motorsports’ first-ever Top Fuel dragster in a unique partnership between the two teams. But Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have made peace with the unique situation and are ready to not only beat each other, but also to cheer each other on in their respective match-ups with other drivers, as well.

“Sure, it will be a little different with Tony racing in another car and with another team … and we will have to race against each other too,” Pruett said. “But we have talked about that quite a bit before we announced I was coming back in the race car and then over the winter.

“Tony really enjoyed driving the Top Fuel car and he asked me about racing against him if it came together with Richard (Freeman) and the Elite Motorsports team. I was okay with it and it’s great for him.”

Pruett, who has 12 career Top Fuel wins, wasn’t idle during her hiatus. In addition to taking care of both Dominic (“and Tony”, she laughed), she was a hands-on consultant for both her husband and Hagan.

“Being involved with the TSR team the last two years kept me active in the sport, and watching from outside the cockpit was a different perspective,” Pruett said. “When I first tested the dragster again, my brain was at 150 mph, and the car was going 300 mph.

“Working with the team in a different capacity the past two years had me deeply involved in the team’s activities, and I was like a student again talking with Tony. I was listening to Tony’s description of the car and engine, and it was similar to when he was starting in drag racing and I was his driver coach. Now, I am really anxious to make some ‘hits’ with the new race car. It feels great and I am ready to be behind the wheel again.”

As for her unfinished business, Pruett battled Doug Kalitta in the final round of the 2023 season-ending World Finals. Had she won the round, Pruett would have clinched the Top Fuel championship. Instead, Kalitta earned his first dragster title, leaving Pruett to wonder what might have been otherwise.

Now will be the year she hopes to pick up where she left off – and potentially cap off her return to the sport with her first Top Fuel championship, as well.

It would be even more special if Pruett and/or Hagan win their respective class titles as 2026 marks the NHRA’s 75 anniversary of the founding of the sport’s leading sanctioning body.

Pruett, Hagan, Stewart and the majority of other professional drag racers are coming off last week’s four-day Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) test at Gainesville.

“Our team prepared very well to optimize our time at this test session, and it (showed),” Pruett said. “Every lap (was) extremely strategic, from riffling through new fuel systems, rear ends, engine tune, long game dynamic strategies and a long list of new and different parts and systems to making sure our spare car is 100% fully functional.”

Pruett’s team will be led by co-crew chiefs Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala with Ryan McGilvry serving as car chief.

“The team dynamic honestly couldn’t be a more Mobil1 well-oiled machine,” Pruett said. “Sure, all of our bodies hurt a bit from moving, grooving, lifting, and hustling in ways that the off season doesn’t replicate, but our leadership from Neal and Mike continues to be profoundly strong.

“We are a team that values thorough communication, collective focus, and never individual ego.”

Pruett hopes to get off to a strong start in the first of the 20-race NHRA season, but she is also aware that missing two seasons could make things a bit slow at the start. Still, she feels it won’t take long to be back in the saddle again.

“Although I am happy with my cadence and my brain’s processing speed of where I am on the track while I’m in the car, I’m looking forward to dialing in details in the cockpit that have worked for me so far,” Pruett said. “There are no substitutions for laps, no matter how many times I run scenarios in my brain. So, I’ll take as many hits on track as I can get.”

Pruett can’t wait for the first green “go” light to come on the Christmas tree at Gainesville. And as the weekend goes on, she’ll learn very quickly if she still has it or whether it might take a while to shake off the rust.

‘I’m very excited to get back in the car for the 2026 season,” Pruett said. “Last year, I wanted to make sure I still had a passion to race after sitting out two years. After giving birth to Dominic and then being a ‘mom’ for a year, I really wasn’t sure if I had the competitive level or should I sit out another year.

“I learned a lot from being outside the car and working on research and data with the crew chiefs and the team overall. It was a different experience but very helpful for a racing driver. I was like a student again, listening to Tony’s description of the car and engine. I worked with him like that when he was starting drag racing a few years ago. He was the student.”

And now, it’s time for the teacher to see how far her student has come and if she taught him well, or whether she still has a few tricks up her sleeve when they inevitably meet each other in the staging lanes.