Leah Pruett Offers 'No Guarantees' of Return to NHRA Top Fuel Cockpit

• Leah Pruett chooses to step from her Tony Stewart Racing dragster to focus on starting a family with “the most thought-out decision I’ve ever really made.”

• She promises she’ll return to the cockpit as soon as she can.

• Taking on educational and technical courses to improve her team’s performance is keeping her involved on the racing side.

She said it stings.

With no pressure coming from husband Tony Stewart, Leah Pruett said she made a choice months ago to remove herself from her Top Fuel dragster at the end of the 2023 NHRA season and concentrate on starting a family. Still, after earning the No. 3 ranking when she came within 31 feet, or.0642 of a second, and 57 points of her first Top Fuel championship, not returning in 2024 to build on that progress “does sting overall,” she said.

Stewart will switch from the sportsman-level Top Alcohol Dragster category to the Top Fuel class this next season as teammate to current Funny Car champion Matt Hagan. Pruett will remain involved on the team’s business/performance side.

“Being able to taste that, literally, you couldn't get any closer than what it came down to,” Pruett said of the winner-take-all last run of the year at the NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., against Doug Kalitta last month. “I didn't think that I needed any more motivation to win a championship or to drive a race car, but being that close is definitely a driver. But I think what some might not consider is that I don't think in one dimension.

“I look at Tony and I as a unit. And whether I'm in the seat or he's in the seat, that feeling of gratitude and excitement and thrill that you get from winning in the seat... it's not the same, but it's not a higher or lower level of excitement and enjoyment,” she said. “Seeing Tony, I've seen him win multiple times now, and that heart-happy feeling that I have is something that I'm definitely totally OK with and looking forward to feeling that when he's in my car doing his thing.