Tony Stewart delivered another strong showing in his American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, advancing to the quarterfinals and continuing his charge in the NHRA Top Fuel championship chase. Stewart opened qualifying on Friday with a 3.827-second pass at 326.40 mph to earn the No. 2 provisional spot and pick up two valuable bonus points. He backed that up with steady runs throughout the weekend, including a blistering 3.732 at 331.61 mph on Saturday that locked him into the No. 5 qualifying position.
On race day, Stewart powered past Josh Hart in the opening round with a 3.733 at 328.54 mph before lining up against Billy Torrence in round two. A 3.746 wasn’t enough to turn back Torrence’s 3.708 at 335.73 mph, ending Stewart’s day in the quarterfinals. Still, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion left Brainerd sitting just 45 points out of first place in the Top Fuel standings with only one regular-season event remaining before the Countdown to the Championship.
“There were a lot of positives to the weekend,” Stewart said. “We stayed within the top two to six the whole time. We still have a consistent car that is making it down the race track. We’ll go to Indy and our biggest race of the season. Indy is points and a half and we’re only within 45 points to Shawn Langdon, which is less than two rounds. We have to keep our nose to the ground.”
With a test session scheduled for Monday in Brainerd, Stewart and his team will look to sharpen their combination before rolling into the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
This story was originally published on August 18, 2025. 
