"We've got some speed now": Tony Stewart highlights effort behind new career-best ET at Route 66 Nationals

Tony Stewart expressed his excitement after clocking a career-best 3.679-second pass during qualifying at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals. The result secured him a number two spot for Sunday's first round of eliminations.

Driving the 14 Dodge for Tony Stewart Racing Nitro, the three-time Cup champion eyes his first Route 66 victory at Joliet, Illinois. He recently won his first Top Fuel race in the four-wide nationals at Las Vegas, marking him as the only driver to win in all forms of motorsports at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As he looks to repeat the feat in Chicago, the 53-year-old beat Antron Brown in the third round of qualifications to record his career-best elapsed time of 3.679 seconds at a speed of 332.43 MPH.

Reflecting upon the milestone, Stewart shared an Instagram reel capturing his emotions after Saturday's qualifying.

"We're really excited because I feel like our car has been very consistent this year. It's been very good in hot weather with a track so slick and obviously had a cold front come through last night. We had cool conditions today and to put up that 3.679 run was strong for us. So, very encouraging that we've got some speed now," Tony Stewart said.

Despite the stellar lap record in just his sophomore year, the former NASCAR man failed to surpass Brittany Force's extraordinary record in the National Hot Rod Association racing series, both by elapsed time and fastest speed. Tony Stewart currently sits second in the standings with 392 points, 60 points adrift of championship leader Shawn Langdon.

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Tony Stewart gets honest about his departure from NASCAR

Last year, Tony Stewart stepped down as team owner for Stewart-Haas Racing. During a podcast episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, Stewart opened up on the bittersweet end of the team he led since 2009.

"It's more bitter than sweet I feel like. It's a tough decision, but things in life change, your priorities change, and variables outside of your control change as well. You and I have been around for a long time, it [NASCAR] is not what it used to be. It is drastically different than what it used to be. And that's okay for some people, for some people it's not," he said. [19:58 onwards]

The Tony Stewart-led team closed shop after losing two of its main sponsors, Smithfield and Anheuser-Busch. Further compounding their troubles was losing Ford's backing by the end of the 2024 season. During SHR's 16-year stint in NASCAR, the team bagged two drivers' championships and 69 race wins.

Following the split, Stewart went on to open his own NHRA racing team with his wife, Leah Pruett, while Gene Haas, the team's co-owner, chose to focus on his Formula 1 team, Haas F1.