Tony Stewart thought nothing would change after his son was born. The racer had already bounced between two states, finished qualifying runs in an 11,000-horsepower dragster, and made it to the hospital just in time for the birth. But sitting in a hospital parking lot with wife Leah Pruett and newborn Dominic in the back seat somehow rattled him more than any race day.
About 20 minutes into the drive home, Marco Andretti called to congratulate him, then turned the moment into a challenge by asking whether Stewart had yet driven over 100 MPH with the baby in the car.
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Stewart thought he was kidding, at first. “I said, ‘Did you not just see that R&L Carrier semi that just blew my doors off?’” he recalled on the Oil and Whiskey podcast.
Marco kept pushing, and according to Tony, he then said that he had already done it with his own daughter, Micah, in the car. That seemed to flip a switch for Tony. “And we’re in a Dodge Durango with a Hellcat motor in it,” he added.
“Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission… So I got rolling, got to 102 [mph]… but she cussed me for another five miles.” he said, referring to wife Leah Pruett, who was in the backseat with baby Dominic.
Stewart glanced in the mirror and caught what he described as “squint eyes,” even though it was already dark outside.
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The story started in Phoenix, just a day after Dominic was born. Just hours earlier, Stewart was in a completely different zone. Pruett’s water broke when he was in Pomona, CA, finishing qualifying at the NHRA Finals. Somehow, he completed his final session and ran to the Bracket Field airport from where he got on a flight to get to his wife.
On race day, and like a true racer’s son, Dominic was born at 4:43 a.m. after Pruett endured nine hours of labor. Stewart then flew back to Pomona by 8:30 a.m. to race his 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster. Before the eliminations, Stewart grabbed a roll of silver duct tape, covered his name on the car, and wrote “DAD” in black marker. He then went out and reached the semifinals while topping 319 MPH.
It was a day that changed his life forever. Mario had told him how fatherhood changes drivers. He believes racers automatically slow down once they have kids because there’s something much bigger than winning races waiting for them at home.
Stewart basically took that advice as a dare.
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And honestly, the story fits him perfectly. This is still the same Tony Stewart who admitted drag racing humbled him because drivers only control “30 percent” of the outcome. The rest depends on crew chiefs, computers, and trusting an 11,000-horsepower machine not to explode underneath them.
It is also the same Tony Stewart who survived a terrifying 240 MPH NHRA crash at Reading and later admitted he was lucky the car did not go airborne. So yes, a 102 MPH highway pull somehow became his way of proving he had not lost his edge. That unpredictability showed up again not long after.
Tony Stewart’s Surprise NASCAR Comeback Proved Mario Andretti’s Theory Might Just be Wrong
After retiring from full-time Cup racing in 2016 and shutting down Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of 2024, Stewart repeatedly said he was done with NASCAR’s corporate side. He openly criticized the sport’s leadership structure and admitted he hated how modern racing had become more “wreck-to-win” than racecraft.
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He was so fed up with the sport that he admitted he felt like assaulting an unnamed NASCAR official because of how dismissively the official responded to his concerns about the Next Gen car.
“The guy who said that was a guy who worked for an auto manufacturer. He’d never worked on a race car, never driven a race car, never worked on a race team. He worked for an auto manufacturer. And then he says, ‘Our data shows otherwise.’ I’m like, ‘What is your data?’” Stewart said on the same episode of the Oil and Whiskey podcast.
At that moment, he genuinely felt he was done with the sport for good. Then he suddenly showed back up at Daytona.
In February 2026, Tony Stewart shocked the garage by entering the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series opener with Kaulig Racing. He drove the No. 25 truck, which also marked Ram’s official return to NASCAR competition.
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The comeback lasted only 39 laps before Tony Stewart got swept into Daytona’s signature multi-truck crash. His night ended early with a destroyed truck and a DNF. Still, Stewart loved every second of being back.
That is the thing about him. He never really stays away from racing for long. While NASCAR is now more like a side project, NHRA has become his main focus. Stewart already picked up his first Top Fuel win at the Las Vegas 4-Wide Nationals and is currently fourth in the championship standings.
He is no longer treated like a celebrity trying drag racing for fun. He is now a legitimate contender. And somehow, even after becoming a father, Stewart still sounds exactly like Tony Stewart. Mario Andretti probably hates that.
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The post “She Cussed Me For Another Five Miles” – Tony Stewart Confesses Driving 100 MPH with Wife Leah & Their Newborn After Mario Andretti’s Provocation appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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