Tony Schumacher has spent enough time during the last few seasons wondering where the next race might come from. Beginning in 2027, he won’t have to wonder.
The winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history has signed a multi-year agreement with Tony Stewart Racing and will replace Leah Pruett in the team’s Top Fuel dragster next season. Pruett is stepping away from full-time competition as she and husband Tony Stewart turn their attention toward growing their family.
For Schumacher, an eight-time world champion with 88 national event victories, it represents something he hasn’t had much of lately: a long-term home.
“I couldn’t have seen this coming or planned something this good — it truly fell into place as perfectly as possible,” Schumacher said. “Over the last several years, it’s been a building process.”
Pruett made it clear she’s stepping away, not retiring.
She returned to Top Fuel competition this season after sitting out following the birth of the couple’s son, Dominic. Pruett enters this weekend’s NHRA Great Lakes Nationals third in the championship standings and already has a victory at the 2026 NHRA New England Nationals, her first since becoming a mother.
“I made the decision to step out of the seat to put some more focus on our family,” Pruett said. “Hopefully that means growing our family, but it also gives me the opportunity to be more present with Dom during such an important stage of his life.”
Pruett’s first break from driving came after the 2023 season, when she took her championship bid all the way to the NHRA Finals at Pomona. Doug Kalitta ultimately won the championship by 57 points.
Three years later, Pruett returned to a team that had changed considerably in her absence. Stewart had moved from team owner to Top Fuel driver in 2024 and won the 2025 regular-season championship before Pruett reclaimed the seat for 2026.
Now she’s handing it to Schumacher.
“That makes me even more excited about who we’re putting in the seat,” Pruett said. “Tony Schumacher is one of the most decorated racers our sport has ever seen.”
Schumacher’s arrival also reconnects him with people and organizations from earlier stops in his career.
He has previously worked with crew chief Neal Strausbaugh and car chief Ryan McGilvry, and Dodge was part of Schumacher’s lengthy run at Don Schumacher Racing. Dodge served as an associate sponsor on the U.S. Army program through its relationship with DSR.
Schumacher also knows Pruett from their years together at DSR, while his history with Stewart goes back to Stewart’s NASCAR days and the U.S. Army sponsorship of Ryan Newman.
“I feel privileged that Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett, such a power couple who are in this purely for the love of the sport, trust me with the seat of the Top Fuel dragster,” Schumacher said. “I’ve known them for a while, Leah at DSR, Tony when he had Ryan Newman’s Army car, and I’ve worked with Neal Strausbaugh and Ryan McGilvry before, we’ve battled through championships together.”
Schumacher’s path back to a full-time seat hasn’t exactly been a straight line.
After his long run with DSR ended, Schumacher returned to full-time NHRA competition in 2022. More recently, he has worked to put together racing opportunities backed by a group of sponsors that stayed with him even when a permanent ride wasn’t available.
Several of those partners are coming with him.
American Communications Construction, Aloha Beauty Lounge, 5.11 and Hollinger will join TSR’s existing sponsor lineup. ACC and Aloha Beauty Lounge began their relationship with Schumacher at the 2025 U.S. Nationals and continued backing his effort.
For Stewart, Schumacher provides a proven driver without requiring the team to start over with someone unfamiliar with championship-level Top Fuel racing.
“His experience, talent and understanding of what it takes to compete at this level make him the perfect fit for this opportunity,” Stewart said. “We have a lot of confidence in him, and we are excited about what the future holds for the team.”
The move also answers another question surrounding Stewart’s own driving plans.
Stewart will remain behind the wheel for Elite Motorsports rather than returning to his TSR Top Fuel dragster. He joined Elite after Pruett returned to competition and said the arrangement with crew chief Mike Green, Joe Barlam, Richard Freeman and the Elite group remains one he wants to continue.
“I will continue to drive for Elite Motorsports,” Stewart said. “I’m enjoying myself and the rapport I’ve built with Mike Green, Joe Barlam, Richard Freeman and the group they’ve put together. Racing against my own team keeps things interesting.”
That leaves TSR’s 2027 driver combination with Schumacher in Top Fuel and four-time world champion Matt Hagan in Funny Car.
Hagan, the 2026 regular-season Funny Car champion, has been the constant on the TSR side since Stewart launched his NHRA organization in 2022.
Dodge and Mopar will continue with the Top Fuel program in primary and associate roles.
Since TSR’s NHRA debut in 2022, the Dodge partnership has produced 25 victories, Hagan’s 2023 Funny Car championship and regular-season titles with Stewart in Top Fuel in 2025 and Hagan in Funny Car this season.
Schumacher now comes back into that fold after spending nearly two decades racing under the DSR umbrella.
“Dodge has spent more than six decades forging one of the most successful legacies in NHRA history, collecting championships and race wins across generations,” Dodge CEO Matt McAlear said. “We thank Leah for her tremendous partnership and contributions to Dodge, and we’re excited to welcome Tony Schumacher, the winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history, to Tony Stewart Racing’s Dodge lineup for the 2027 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.”
Pruett, meanwhile, isn’t planning to disappear from the pits.
She said she intends to remain involved with TSR just as she did during her previous absence from driving. Whether that eventually leads to another return remains deliberately unanswered.
“There really isn’t a roadmap for navigating motherhood and a career at this level of motorsports, so having that kind of support has meant more to me than I can put into words,” Pruett said.
Her decision comes while she’s still in the championship fight, making this much different from a driver reaching the end of a career and quietly walking away.
Pruett has 13 career Top Fuel victories, and her 2026 return put her back in contention almost immediately. She’s choosing to leave the seat while the car and team are still capable of winning.
Stewart said the timing was Pruett’s decision, just as it was when she stepped away after 2023.
“For her to be able to make the decision to step out of the seat, not just once, but twice, especially after the comeback year the team is having, that takes a level of strength and determination few people have,” Stewart said.
For Schumacher, the timing works in the opposite direction.
At this stage of a career that has already produced eight championships and more Top Fuel victories than anyone else, he’s getting another chance with a team built to contend for races and championships.
He’ll make his TSR debut at the 2027 season-opening NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Feb. 18-21.
The surroundings shouldn’t require much introduction. Neither should the expectations.
Schumacher has spent much of his career carrying those.
“My wife, Summer, our sponsors, and I are excited for the future and look forward to chasing championships,” Schumacher said.
