Tony Stewart has been knocking out personal goals lately.
The motorsports icon recently crossed off his lift, a trifecta at Las Vegas, having won races at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The trifecta in this case means victories on the Speedway, the Dirt Track, and most recently the Drag Strip.
Stewart’s got another opportunity to be a three-timer at Route 66 Raceway, built on the grounds of the Chicagoland Speedway. He’s won on the oval track and the dirt surface, but the 1,000-foot course during the NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by Peak is all he’s missing.
“Honestly, you don’t think about the records. You just concentrate on the race you’re trying to win that weekend. I think once you accomplish milestones like that, then you think about it and reflect on it, but you’re not thinking about it in the process. You’re just going out and doing your job, trying to win races each week.”
The Route 66 NHRA Nationals will mark Stewart’s 26th career Top Fuel start and his second at Chicago. For Hagan, the Route 66 NHRA Nationals will be his 358th career Funny Car start and his 14th at Chicago.
Stewart is eyeing his first victory at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals and his first No. 1 qualifier at the event. In 2024, Stewart secured the No. 16 qualifying position and ran a 3.993 ET at 276.69 mph in Round 1, which he lost to TJ Zizzo’s 3.805 ET at 329.42 mph.
Stewart was recently in Chicago to participate in an NHRA Media tour ahead of the Route 66 Nationals when he was asked what the NHRA brings to a town with eight professional major league teams.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do in town with any of the other professional sports teams like the NHRA, and no disrespect to them,” Stwart said. “They’re all amazing, but going to a drag race and seeing two 11,000-plus horsepower cars racing side-by-side is a feeling you can’t get in a baseball stadium, hockey arena, basketball court, or football stadium. It just doesn’t happen there, so that’s what makes drag racing so unique. You can watch it on TV as much as you want, but until you go and really experience it firsthand, you don’t truly know what you’re missing.”
