Tony Stewart 'Freaked Out' But Also Excited About Becoming a Father with Wife Leah Pruett

• It's the next few years that 53-year-old Tony Stewart is especially looking forward to, particularly becoming a father.

• He might also be looking at moving up in class in NHRA to either Top Fuel or Funny Car.

• Nothing is imminent at this time and Stewart isn’t pushing his 35-year-old wife and NHRA star Leah Pruett, basically leaving the decision to get pregnant totally up to her.

The last two years have been life-changing for NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart.

He married NHRA Top Fuel drag racer Leah Pruett in November 2021, started his own NHRA drag racing team in 2022 that includes Pruett and Funny Car driver Matt Hagan, and then to top it off, Stewart is competing full-time this season in NHRA’s Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) class, essentially drag racing’s minor league to Top Fuel (he’s been a quick learner in TAD: he’s currently second in the standings)

Stewart also still is co-owner of Stewart Haas Racing in NASCAR, is a part-time color analyst on FOX Sports’ NASCAR telecasts, owns several small race tracks including Eldora Raceway in Ohio as well as a small racing series, and still competes in sprint car races as time allows.

But it’s the next few years that the 53-year-old Stewart is especially looking forward to, particularly becoming a father, and maybe even moving up in class in NHRA to either Top Fuel or Funny Car.

First is Pruett’s timeline as a mother-to-be. Nothing is imminent at this time and Stewart isn’t pushing his 35-year-old wife, basically leaving the decision to get pregnant totally up to her.

“I freaked out about the whole process, to be honest,” Stewart laughed during an exclusive 45-minute interview with Autoweek. “I can't even take care of myself. She has to take care of me.”

But seriously, Stewart is looking forward to the day he becomes a father.

“I 'm not gonna lie, I 'm excited about it,” he said. “But I want it to be when the timing is right for us. I 'm already so old now anyway, my poor kids are going to be at their high school graduation, there's kids that aren't gonna know who I am and they're gonna go, ‘Oh, your grandfather came.’ My poor kids are gonna have to say, ‘No, that’s my dad.’ So it's just like, whatever, it is what it is, but I 'm excited about the possibility, sure, absolutely.”

But as excited as he is about one day having children, Stewart is also pragmatic: as team owner, he has to figure out who would replace his wife in her Top Fuel dragster when she steps out of it while pregnant.

“I look at it from two sides,” Stewart said. “I have to be a husband first. But then I 'm her car owner at the same time. Depending on when she gets pregnant, it could be she's out and can't run a full season for sure. Or she might be out part of two seasons if the timings not right.

“So in conversations with that, the car owner in me came out and then I finally had to go, ‘You know what, you just tell me when I need to start buying clothes and cribs and stuff like that.’ Other than that, it's all on her. It's her timing, it's whenever she wants, I said, ‘Don't tell me when you want to, just do it, go do our lives and tell me when there’s something I need to know.

“So I’m trying to do everything in my power to take the car owners’ side out of it and strictly be a husband that's supportive. And it's a big deal for her too. It's not just (she’s) going to skip work for a little while. It's way more than that for every woman that gets pregnant.

“I think it's a hard decision for her because she's loving racing with this team, the performance is getting better (Pruett is currently fifth in Top Fuel heading into this weekend’s race in Bristol, Tenn.). And to sit there and go, ‘Okay, well, now I 'm gonna start a family and step away from this for a little bit, that's hard for a competitive racer, so I’ve just tried to be supportive and whatever and whenever she wants, that's fine with me.”