Tony Stewart Commits to Racing a Full-Season NHRA Schedule

Tony Stewart taking a straight-line approach to what he hopes will be another championship run—as a driver—in 2023.

Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Cup champion, announced on Tuesday that he will be competing full-time in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol class for McPhillips Racing. That's the same class that Stewart made his NHRA debut at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. Stewart advanced to the finals at Las Vegas, where he finished runner-up to Madison Payne by 0.0002 second.

Stewart will be even busier now on NHRA weekends, as he also owns Tony Stewart Racing, which fields cars in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.

“I am super excited about the season,” Stewart said. “It’s been a long winter and I think what’s made it feel even longer is the fact that we’ve been working on putting this package together with the McPhillips family to expand on what we did at Las Vegas last year and get back in the seat. I want to keep learning about the sport and have the opportunity to go compete more this year with a team I really enjoy.

"To be able to go to Vegas last year with the McPhillips family was really special. Pops (Rich McPhillips) and Richie (McPhillips Jr.) are an unbelievable family to drive for. Everyone on the crew is a fun group of guys to race with. It’s nerve-wracking to try and do something different, but when you have a team like what the McPhillips Racing team has, it makes everything a lot easier.”

Stewart's one-off success has him excited to run for an NHRA championship. Each Top Alcohol Dragster driver is eligible to earn points at their first 10 national events. Their best six national finishes from their eligible points earning events will constitute their NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series national championship points total.

“It’s hard to sit there and know what expectations we should have for the year,” the 51-year-old Stewart said. “I think as long as I keep learning more and more as I go by trying to be more consistent with driving the car, keep it in the groove, trying to stay consistent on reaction times and improve reaction times, those are all goals for me. I want to keep learning and get better every weekend and every race we go to.”

On top of National events, he will also compete in select races in the Divisional Series, starting with the Division 2 Baby Gators, March 1-5 at Gainesville Raceway.

“Getting prepared for this season over the winter has been about trying to understand what the schedule is going to look like,” Stewart said.

Stewart plans to begin his 2023 NHRA season March 1-5 in Gainesville, Florida for The Baby Gators. Qualifying and finals will be streamed live on NHRA.tv.