CONCORD, N.C. — Rookie Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart has taken a liking to four-wide racing.
His inaugural victory on a drag strip — which was in a Top Alcohol dragster — occurred at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last April.
This year, three races into his rookie Top Fuel season, Stewart made his first final-round appearance during the series’ spring stop in Las Vegas, further solidifying his credentials as a four-wide racer.
He finished fourth to event winner Doug Kalitta, Justin Ashley and Steve Torrence.
“I look at it like it’s a short track and heat race style,” Stewart explained. “You don’t have to win your quad, you just gotta run in the top two to go to the next round.”
There’s no set reason why the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion believes he has a knack for running four wide on a drag strip, but he has a few ideas.
“You take all these guys that have a ton of experience and make them uncomfortable. I’m already uncomfortable to start, so that automatically starts to even the odds out a little bit,” Stewart said.
The way he views it, funneling traditional drag racers into an atypical situation — such as the four-wide format — helps shrink the gap that exists between their veteran minds and his rookie stripes.
“It makes me feel like I’m at less of a deficit,” Stewart said.
The good thing for the 52-year-old is that there’s another four-wide event awaiting him this weekend at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., for round five of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
It’s the first time since taking over driving duties of the Tony Stewart Racing dragster from his wife Leah Pruett that the team owner believes momentum is on his side.
However, that’s not the only factor working in his favor.
Every race weekend Stewart gets under his belt, the more comfortable he becomes in the cockpit. Each round is also an opportunity to work on his reaction times, which he feels have been lacking since the season opener at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway, when he posted the fastest reaction time of the entire Top Fuel field.
“The thing that’s most important on the lights for me as a rookie right now is, even if they’re not as fast as I want them to be, they’re really consistent,” Stewart said.
So, although his reaction times are slow, they are consistently slow — giving the Indiana native a steady base to work with.
He’s also gotten better at keeping his head where his feet are.
“When the cars at the 330 cone, my brain’s not sitting there at 200 feet going, ‘Wait, wait. What just happened?’” Stewart explained. “I’m getting caught up and I feel like I’m with the car, I feel every run.”