"We took pride when he had a good night": Tony Stewart on his early influence on John Force's driver Austin Prock's career

NHRA drivers, Tony Stewart and Austin Prock, reminisced about their early days together in a video shared by Prock's team, John Force Racing. The conversation between the two drag racers started with Prock's time racing with midget cars, specifically, when he bought his own with no place to put it, but luckily, Stewart brought him into his race shop. The NASCAR Cup Series champion shared how he would feel proud of the younger driver when he was successful, during the time that his midget car was being housed in Stewart's garage.

The JFR driver spoke about the time in his career when he was climbing through the ranks of midget racing in 2011, and he purchased a car and was able to put it in the garage of the Tony Stewart Racing organization in Brownsburg, Indiana. Getting that support at the start was very impactful for Prock's career, according to the Funny Car driver himself.

“I would not be where I am in my career today without that blessing of letting me move in and learn from yourself and all your great employees there” [1:25]

Stewart felt that same kinship with Prock, sharing how he felt whenever the Michigan-born driver would do well in a competition, while also sharing a funny anecdote about the situation at the race shop.

“I remember when I'd walk in the shop, I'd walk around his car, and I'd walk around his area there, and I'd look to see if I saw any titanium bolts and nuts laying around that I thought he got out of our bins upstairs, see how many parts he stole out of the shop. Honestly, we didn't care ‘cause we kind of felt like it was our little factory team off to the side here ‘cause we took pride when he had a good night, we felt like it was a win at the shop.” [1:38]

At the same time that his race shop was housing Prock, Tony Stewart was racing with his Cup Series team, Stewart-Haas Racing, and would go on to win his third championship title that year.

Tony Stewart reveals what he said to his crew after winning his first NHRA race

Tony Stewart celebrates with his crew after winning the Four Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 13th 2025 - Source: Imagn

This year is Tony Stewart's second year racing in the NHRA drag racing series, in the Top Fuel Category. After coming close the last two seasons, the former NASCAR driver, finally secured a win at the 4-Wide Nationals Event that took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month, the same place Austin Prock also secured his first win of the season.

After which, he spoke to his team to let them know that the question that usually plagues them would no longer be asked.

"I told our crew guys at the end of the day when we had our team meeting, I said, 'The best part of this is here on out, we get to go to the track and show up, and we don't have to worry about answering questions: 'Are you, or when are you going to win a race,'" Stewart said. "We've got that. We've checked that box off. Now we can show up and just race on the weekends." [via CBS]

The next event that Tony Stewart will be back in the Top Fuel car for is the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, taking place on May 18th.