Tony Stewart Gets Real on His Racing Clan With 7-Word Bold Confession

A ‘double’ role has suited Tony Stewart before. In 2001, the versatile motorsports athlete completed both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. In doing so, he became the first and only racer to finish the two events on lead laps – clinching 6th and 3rd-place finishes. While this stands as Stewart’s most ambitious double role, the ambitious racer is now pursuing another dual duty. While pursuing his drag racing interests, Stewart is also exercising his role as a family guy.

In 2024, Tony Stewart took over the wheel of the Top Fuel dragster belonging to his wife, Leah Pruett. The latter devoted her time to pregnancy and motherhood, welcoming a son, Dominic, in November 2024. Now, as Stewart remains on the cusp of changing directions again, he is content nonetheless.

Tony Stewart is enjoying his life

A few days ago, Tony Stewart Racing announced that Leah Pruett will return to full-time racing in 2026. The 12-time NHRA Top Fuel winner will replace her husband, who was the 2024 NHRA Rookie of the Year. What is more, Tony Stewart owns two wins in 2025, at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas and the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Illinois. Yet letting go of his brief and successful stint in the drag racing seat is hardly making Stewart sad. What matters to him right now is having his vibrant family by his side. He admitted in a Dale Jr Download episode, “To get to go to the racetrack each weekend, get to do it with my wife, to now have our son there.”

The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion suffered a harrowing crash recently. It resulted from a collision with Doug Kalitta in the second round of ‘Countdown to the Championship’ at Maple Grove Raceway. However, Tony Stewart counted himself lucky to have his wife beside him. He said, “Our crash the other day happened at 240 MPH…We had a backup car, we had the opportunity to test with Leah on Monday. She got to make the hits in the car, and I’m banged up a little bit. The doctor’s orders not to get in the car…So to have my wife shake up the car, that’s a pretty cool deal for me.”

What is more, being close to his adorable son makes the difficult things easier for Tony Stewart. He said that his proximity to Dominic brightens up his day. “He is 30 ft away from me at all times. I can go run in that trailer at any time, hug him, kiss him all I want, play with him.” While executing his dad duties, Stewart also gets to act as a doting son. Tony continued, “My dad’s 87 years old now; we raced three-quarter midgets together. And so, getting to race with my dad occasionally, that’s something that I haven’t had the opportunity to do before.” 

Hence, despite the massive upheavals that his career has undergone, Tony Stewart is still enjoying himself. Although he has left behind a happening racing career comprising versatile involvement in different disciplines, having his family by his side makes a difference. He issued a bold 7-word confession about his racing clan: “We are just truly a racing family.”

While juggling his racing and family duties, Tony Stewart is also scaling up his organisation’s partnerships.

Joining hands with another star-studded racer

Rico Abreu is currently atop the Kubota High Limit Racing standings. He owns 44 feature victories and has improved his win percentage every season. The 33-year-old from St. Helena, Calif., fan favorite is now prepared to join hands with Tony Stewart. Abreu will merge his No. 24 family-owned team and join forces with Stewart’s Brownsburg, Ind., operation at the conclusion of the 2025 season. In doing so, Abreu will also bring along his entire race-day crew, including former TSR crew chief Ricky Warner. The latter cemented his National Sprint Car Hall of Fame legacy wrenching for Donny Schatz from 2005-18.

The sprint racing star is honored to tie up with Tony Stewart, as he told FloRacing recently. Rico Abreu said, “I see it as tying myself to a top-tier establishment. Like, I don’t know if you find anything bigger or better than Tony Stewart Racing in our industry. If you really break it all down, resource-wise, when it comes to data and dissecting Sprint Cars on the mechanical side and infrastructure internally, like, I can’t provide my team with what he has built over 25 years.” What is more, “he’s going to allow me to manage the team,” Abreu said of Stewart giving him authority over TSR’s revamped day-to-day operations.

This upscaling of Tony Stewart’s team operations paints a bright future ahead. While Stewart juggles his racing and family duties this year, let us see what his personal future holds.