Tony Stewart's sophomore NHRA brilliance falls short of Brittany Force’s extraordinary record

Former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart failed to surpass Brittany Force's extraordinary record in the National Hot Rod Association racing series. Stewart, racing for his own team, Tony Stewart Racing Nitro, fell short of Force both by elapsed time and by fastest speed.

Stewart, the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, tried his hand at the NHRA competition after his wife, Leah Pruett, decided to sit out the 2024 season. The reason behind Pruett's temporary departure from the sport was to start a family with the former NASCAR man.

As a result, Stewart took up the challenge to race in the team instead. In November last year, the couple welcomed their firstborn, Dominic James Stewart. However, as things stood, Pruett was still not ready to come into the racing scene as Stewart continued on in her stead.

NHRA is hosting a major event of their season currently in Chicago — the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. Tony Stewart, with his team, has also been a participant and pulled off his career-best statistic.

The Columbus, Indiana man was able to set his career-best elapsed time of 3.679 seconds and registered a top speed of 332.43 miles an hour in the Top Fuel Dragster category. However, it was no match for Brittany Force.

Brittany Force, the daughter of 16-time Funny Car world champion John Force, has the quickest past record under her belt. She registered 3.623 in 2019 during the Reading event. Her fastest speed in the Top Fuel category—338.94 miles an hour—is also untouched.

Currently, Stewart, with 352 points, trails Championship leader Shawn Langdon (452 points). Brittany Force, on the other hand, is in fifth place with 301 points in the Top Fuel Dragster category.

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Tony Stewart let his feelings known after claiming career best NHRA statistic

Tony Stewart, the Tony Stewart Racing Nitro driver in the Top Fuel Dragster category, shared his thoughts after claiming his career-best statistics. Speaking in a video shared by his team's official X account, the former NASCAR man said:

"Hey everyone, just wanted to talk about our weekend obviously. In Q1, we were P1 on the board, and after Q2, on Friday night, we shrieked the tires, and fell back to sixth. But came out today with our career best ET (Elapsed Time), the record for us, with the 3.679 seconds, and that put us back in second, and we stayed there after Q4."

Tony Stewart had an illustrious career in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he raced for 18 years and participated in 618 races. During this time, he claimed four championships, 49 wins, 15 poles, and 306 Top 10s.

Stewart also raced in the Xfinity and the Truck Series, racking up 11 and two wins, respectively. In addition to this, he also ran a Cup Series team, the Stewart-Haas Racing along with Gene Haas. However, he shut down the team at the end of 2024.