Tony Stewart speaks out after escaping a massive NHRA Top Fuel explosion

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a massive explosion in the NHRA Top Fuel Series. Fortunately, Stewart was unharmed during the explosion and, in a post-race interview, shared his experience of the horrific incident.

After dominating stock car racing and clinching three Cup Series championship titles with 49 career wins, Stewart wanted to find something challenging for his career. He was then introduced to his now-wife, Leah Pruett, in 2019 by Don Prudhomme via FaceTime, and soon they began dating. Stewart often visited his now-wife on drag strips, which sparked his interest in drag racing.

During the qualifying session, while NHRA Top Fuel points leader Tony Stewart was competing against Shawn Langdon, his 11,000 horsepower dragster exploded in the middle of the run. The car caught fire, and the marshals ran to get Stewart out. Fortunately, he had no injuries and climbed out of the car himself.

Reflecting on the same, the former Cup Series team owner told the press (via Taylor Kitchen on X):

"Well luckily being in canopy I don't feel a lot of anything is here, and you realize you know obviously it decells, real quick, you go from all those positive G's to know G's anymore, but if anybody needs their yard mode this week in the call I got a I got some bills to pay this week." [01:05]

After Leah Pruett announced her temporary hiatus from the series to focus on her family, Tony Stewart has been filling in for her and claimed the Rookie of the Year title last year.

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"It’s not like what you and I were used to": When Tony Stewart elucidated the key difference between stock car racing and drag racing

In October 2024, former NASCAR Cup Series team owner Tony Stewart was featured on Kevin Harvick's 'Happy Hour' podcast on YouTube. During the interaction, Stewart highlighted the key difference between the two series and revealed how they are the opposite.

The Indiana native pointed out that stock car racing series events last about three to four hours. Whereas, the NHRA Series races generally end within three to four seconds. Reflecting on the same, he stated:

“It’s not like what you and I were used to, where we’ve got a three-and-a-half-hour race. We’ve got six or eight pit stops during the day, and we have three, four, or five hundred laps to get the job done. If we make a mistake, we're going to fix it."

“Drag racing; it’s the opposite of that. Instead of being in the car for three and a half hours, you’re literally driving the car three and a half seconds and going from zero to 330 miles per hour in 3.6, 3.7 seconds on a good run. So, it’s drastically different," he added.

Tony Stewart also compared the engines of both series and mentioned the NHRA Series cars are built to run in a straight line with an 11,000-horsepower engine. Meanwhile, NASCAR cars are designed to compete on oval tracks, and the engines are capped at 650 horsepower.