Tony Stewart might ply his trade as a Top Fuel driver, but more than anything, the Hall of Fame motorsports icon loves to race, whether in circles or a straight line at over 300 miles per hour.
Stewart came into the NHRA North Central Divisional event outside of St. Louis, trailing Gary Prichett by 21 points. Stewart won the race, beating Pritchett in the final round and securing the championship, running a 5.216 ET at 274.16 mph.
“It was a pretty cool deal today,” Stewart said. “This is redemption from last year at this same event. When we were here a year ago, all we had to do was get through the first round, and we would have clinched the division championship. Obviously, we were also racing for the world championship points as well. But we had a problem. The car shook, and the competitor we ran against had their best run of the season against us. It was a bitter pill to swallow.”
There was none of that this time, as Stewart entered the final eliminations as the No. 2 seed and advanced through the eliminations with decisive victories, defeating Joey Severance and Jackie Fricke in earlier rounds. The final round was a winner-take-all for the championship.
“We were having to come from behind today,” Stewart said. “Even with two wins and a runner-up coming into today, if he (Gary Pritchett) made it to the finals, we had to beat him to win this thing. Out of five races this season, we ran Gary in four of them, and we were in the finals together in all four.
“To win three against him is awesome. He’s a tough competitor, and Randy Meyer’s team always does a great job. I’m really proud of my McPhillips Racing team. These guys did an awesome job. It’s a nice redemption weekend for us. We struggled here last weekend in the Top Fuel car. To be able to come here and win the race, have low ET of the event in the finals, and win the division championship is just really cool. For everything we’ve done in motorsports, to be able to add this to our resume is really special.”
Stewart previously won events in Indianapolis and Columbus, where he also qualified No. 1. His season continued with a runner-up finish in Norwalk and a semifinal appearance in Bowling Green.
Looking ahead, Stewart will return to the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series as a Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster driver at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals from October 11-13. Currently, he ranks ninth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 194 points behind leader Antron Brown.
