Tony Stewart won’t be racing full-time in the NHRA Top Fuel division in 2026 for his own team.
His Tony Stewart Racing team said Tuesday that Stewart’s wife, Leah Pruett, would return to the driver’s seat next season. Stewart has subbed for Pruett since the start of the 2024 season as the two had their first child together.
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“I’m excited to see Leah get back in a race car,” Stewart said in a release. “She’s done such an amazing job of becoming a mother and going through a whole year of pregnancy and our first year with [son] Dominic. I know deep down inside that she wants to drive that race car really bad, so I’m just excited to see her get that opportunity again. I appreciate what she’s done to help our family and help this entire race team. She’s been a very critical part of this team’s success and projects that we’re working on, so she hasn’t sat on her hands by any means, but first and foremost, I know she wants to drive that car more than anything.”
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has won twice since taking over for Pruett and has 10 final-round appearances. He lost out to Justin Ashley in the final of the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day. Before stepping out of the car after the 2023 season, Pruett had scored 12 Top Fuel wins.
Stewart, 54, won the regular-season points title in Top Fuel this season and is the top seed heading into the six-race postseason. If he wins the Top Fuel title, he’d become the first driver to have a Cup Series title and an NHRA national series championship. Stewart is already the only driver to have an IndyCar title and a Cup Series title. He won the 1997 IndyCar championship before he moved to NASCAR.
Stewart said in a news conference Tuesday that he was in conversations with people about a ride for the 2026 season, but nothing had been solidified.
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In addition to fielding a car for Pruett in 2025, TSR will again have a Funny Car team with driver Matt Hagan. After leaving the Cup Series ownership ranks in 2024, Stewart still has his drag racing and sprint car teams. Stewart-Haas Racing dissolved at the end of last season after Stewart joined forces with Gene Haas ahead of the 2009 season. Haas kept one of the team’s four Cup Series charters to field a car for Cole Custer in 2025.