St. Louis Top Alcohol Event Recap – STEWART WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

Tony Stewart

McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
North Central Division
Oct. 4-5 | St. Louis

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster:
• Earned No. 5 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (5.505 ET at 269.08 mph)
• Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (5.235 ET at 273.44 mph)
• Secured No. 2 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Friday, Stewart ran a 5.282 ET at 274.83 mph.
• Advanced to Finals on Saturday:
• Round 1: 5.224 ET at 271.90 mph, defeated Joey Severance (5.274 ET at 273.77 mph)
• Round 2: 5.262 ET at 274.72 mph, defeated Jackie Fricke (5.264 ET at 277.72 mph)
• Finals: 5.216 ET at 274.16 mph, defeated Gary Pritchett (13.242 ET at 73.96 mph)
• Clinched the NHRA North Central Division Championship

Notes of Interest

• By advancing to the Finals at the NHRA North Central Division race at St. Louis and defeating Gary Pritchett, Stewart clinched his championship title in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 3. Coming into St. Louis, Stewart was 21 points behind Pritchett, so if the two met in the Finals, Stewart had to earn the win to claim the title.
• This marks Stewart’s first divisional championship in the Top Alcohol Dragster class in two years of competition. He finished second in both the NHRA North Central Division and World Championship in 2023.
• Stewart earned low ET (elapsed time) during each round of eliminations on Sunday.
• Stewart had a .013 RT (reaction time) in Round 1, a .020 RT in Round 2 and a .023 RT in the Finals, besting his opponent in each round.
• Stewart competed in five Top Alcohol Dragster events in 2024 on his way to the title, where he earned three wins, one runner-up finish and one semi-final finish. His four previous events were –
• Indianapolis, Indiana – Stewart qualified No. 1 and won the event, defeating Jeff Chatterson, Julie Nataas and Gary Pritchett.
• Columbus, Ohio – Stewart qualified No. 1 and won the event, defeating Jeff Chatterson, bye run and Gary Pritchett.
• Norwalk, Ohio – Stewart qualified No. 2 and finished runner-up. He defeated JP Gutierrez in Round 1 and Mike Coughlin in Round 2, before losing to Gary Pritchett in the Finals.
• Bowling Green, Kentucky – Stewart qualified No. 2 and advanced to the Semifinals. He defeated Mike Coughlin, before losing to Zach Sackman.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster

“It was a pretty cool deal today. This is redemption from last year at this same event. When we were here a year ago, all we had to do was get through the first round and we would have clinched the division championship. Obviously, we were also racing for the world championship points as well. But, we had a problem. The car shook and the competitor we ran against had their best run of the season against us. It was a bitter pill to swallow. We were having to come from behind today. Even with two wins and a runner-up coming into today, if he (Gary Pritchett) made it to the finals, we had to beat him to win this thing. Out of five races this season, we ran Gary in four of them and we were in the finals together in all four. To win three against him is awesome. He’s a tough competitor and Randy Meyer’s team always does a great job. I’m really proud of my McPhillips Racing team. These guys did an awesome job. It’s a nice redemption weekend for us. We struggled here last weekend in the Top Fuel car. To be able to come here and win the race and have low ET of the event in the finals and win the division championship is just really cool. For everything we’ve done in motorsports, to be able to add this to our resume is really special.”

Next Up

Stewart will be back behind the wheel of the Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at the Texas NHRA FallNationals Oct. 11-13 at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas. It is the fourth event in the Countdown to the Championship and the third-to-last race of the season. Stewart is currently ninth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 194 points behind leader Antron Brown.

 
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