NASCAR Hall Of Famer Tony Stewart's Midlife Crisis Has 11,000 Horsepower
LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 13: Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart celebrates after winning his first career ... More national event at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Four-Wide Nationals on April 13, 2025, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo by Will Lester/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
When most of us cross the half-century mark, we start hearing whispers from the shadows. Not ghosts, but worse: retirement planners. We begin to notice the pull of the front porch, the gentle lure of sweet tea, and the seductive promise of taking it easy. The world wants us to trade horsepower for rocking chairs, racetracks for golf carts, and say things like, 'I used to be wild, back in the day.'
Tony Stewart wants absolutely nothing to do with that nonsense.
At 53, while most men are leaning into orthopedic sneakers and early bird specials, Stewart is out here wrestling 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters in the NHRA. And he's not just playing with fire—he's winning with it. He got his first NHRA Top Fuel victory in Las Vegas, a town that feels tailor-made for a man like Stewart: hot, loud, reckless, and running entirely on adrenaline and attitude.
This is the same Tony Stewart who already has an IndyCar championship, three NASCAR Cup Series titles, a NASCAR Hall of Fame induction, a bio that also includes more dirt ovals than you can count, and he's shown more middle fingers to drivers than many will see in a lifetime. He's also a guy who once punched a reporter and made it look like community service.
When he stepped away from the driver's seat in 2016, people assumed he was winding down. And when he sold his stake in Stewart-Haas Racing last season, effectively closing the doors on one of NASCAR's boldest operations, many figured he'd ride off into the sunset, probably on horseback, possibly with a cigar clenched between his teeth, and definitely with the theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly playing in the background.
But Tony Stewart isn't wired that way. He's not the 'ride off' type. He's the 'blow past you at 330 mph and ask questions later' type.
1996 Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter Tony Stewart watches teammate Robbie Buhl circle the track as he ... More waits for his crew to bring out his car 08 May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stewart and Buhl recorded four of the top six top speeds for the day each using both their primary and backup cars. AFP PHOTO/MATT CAMPBELL (Photo by MATT CAMPBELL / AFP) (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)
And just in case racing Top Fuel dragsters wasn't enough, he's also just become a first-time father. At 53. Because apparently, going zero to 100 in under a second in a nitromethane-fueled missile wasn't enough of a life change.
So when he crossed the line in Las Vegas for his first Top Fuel win, it wasn't just another chapter—it was a plot twist. A man who's done everything just added something entirely new to the résumé. But if you think he stood there basking in the glory, relishing the personal milestone, you don't know Smoke.
'I think it's funny because it's kind of the polar opposite of that… It reminds me of one other scenario… back in 2009 when we started Stewart-Haas Racing,' Stewart said.
'People were telling me I was crazy. I left Joe Gibbs Racing to go to a team that had a car 34th and 36th in the points. I had ruined my career by doing that. And here we were, three months into it, and we win the highest paying event of the year. I remember getting to Victory Lane and half of those guys were in tears. That moment, I realized—it was not about me. It was about the people we had put together. And that's exactly what Sunday turned into.
CONCORD, NC - MAY 16: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot Chevrolet, celebrates in victory ... More lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 16, 2009 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by)
'It was a brief moment of just being excited and knowing I could go to the racetrack and not have to answer all these damn questions about 'when are you going to win a race?' We've done it now. And now we get to show up and just race each weekend. And try to do it again.'
And then, there's the part of Tony Stewart the public is just getting used to seeing: the father. The husband. The sentimental old-school racer who now sees his legacy not just in trophies, but in the people holding his hand in Victory Lane.
When asked how it felt to share the moment with his wife, Leah, and his newborn son, Dom—who, for all his innocence, has already been to more dragstrips than most grown men—Stewart didn't hesitate.
'I'm not going to lie—I got lost in it. It was a feeling I've never had before,' he said. 'From the moment Dom was born, I thought, He's never going to see me run a lap in NASCAR. He'll never watch me in IndyCar. I might not even get back in a winged sprint car.
LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 13: Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart celebrates with his wife Leah, son Dominic, ... More and his crew after winning his first career national event at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Four-Wide Nationals on April 13, 2025, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo by Will Lester/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
'To have him there, to have photos of him in Victory Lane… he won't remember it, but he'll have those photos. He'll know he was there, part of it, with his dad.
'And Leah—if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even be here.'
Leah, by the way, isn't just the supportive wife waving from the sidelines. She's a badass in her own right—an accomplished NHRA driver, racing for the very team Tony now owns. Which, naturally, raises the question: when are we going to see the Stewarts line up side-by-side?
'We've started those conversations,' Tony admitted. 'What does life look like in a couple of years with her back in the car?
'I still think it's a terrible idea,' he added with a chuckle. 'It's a no-win situation for me. If I win, I get kicked to the couch. If she wins, I get to call all my buddies and tell them I got my ass kicked by my wife. Still trying to figure out where this is a positive for me.'
"'I've kind of learned to never say never..." (Photo by Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley ... More Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
That's vintage Stewart. Honest, funny, and unfiltered. The man could probably read the ingredients on a ketchup bottle and make it sound like the start of a bar fight.
So what's next for the guy who's conquered almost everything with four wheels and an engine?
'We've got a partner…they have an offshore boat, and they're trying to convince me to drive that,' he said.
'I've kind of learned to never say never. I haven't done motorcycles—I'm too old and not talented enough for that. Haven't done figure eights, but after breaking my back four times, I don't think that's a good idea either.
'But boats? That might be intriguing. That'd be the last thing I think I'd try outside of what we're doing now. And for the record—I like what we're doing. I want to be around here for a long time.'
Tony Stewart, ladies and gentlemen: a man who's done just about everything except slow down. And from the sound of it, that's not going to happen anytime soon.
So keep your porch and sweet tea. Smoke's still burning rubber—and raising hell.
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