JOLIET, Ill. — Don’t look now, but three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart leads the NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series Top Fuel standings.
With his second victory and fourth final-round appearance of the season Sunday at Route 66 Raceway, Stewart holds a three-point lead over Shawn Langdon.
The driver of the Tony Stewart Racing dragster believes he and his team are for real.
“You’ve got to believe we’re real now at this point,” Stewart said. “I wouldn’t have said it before today. Even in Vegas (for his first win), I said we’re making progress but we’re not where we need to be yet. But it’s hard to be the points leader and not think you’re a contender now. I’m very grateful and it’s nice we’ve got a consistent car.”
Stewart defeated Justin Ashley in Sunday’s final round, and got a little help from his wife, Leah Pruett, along the way.
“I said at Vegas that I was extremely impressed and pleased with the progress our team has been making,” said Stewart. “There were tricky track conditions on Friday, so I was excited about getting number one qualifier in Q1. When the track cooled off and we ran a 3.67 Saturday, we got really excited. We had talked amongst our group about how tough it is to race for a championship at the end of the season when we haven’t raced in cooler conditions like we will have in the fall. Now we have data that we can go back and look at. We had a mixture of warm and cool conditions today for eliminations.
“I talked with Leah before the final about what I had to do to beat Justin (Ashley). We concluded I had to just keep doing what I’ve been doing and get up on the wheel.
“You know when you race Justin, you have to bring your ‘A game’ and rise to the occasion. His reaction times are the best out here, and he does that both in qualifying and eliminations. That makes today’s win for our Rinnai Dodge//SRT crew that much more special. They have a great team and program. When you can beat them, it is a feather in your cap because you’re beating one of the best teams in the business.”
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series resumes May 30-June 1 at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.
