Las Vegas Top Alcohol Event Recap – STEWART WINS!

Tony Stewart

Mobil 1 McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
April 14-16 | Las Vegas

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the Mobil 1 Top Alcohol Dragster:
• Earned No. 18 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (8.708 ET at 95.46 mph)
• Fell to No. 20 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (8.993 ET at 95.02 mph)
• Earned No. 4 qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (5.285 ET at 267.69 mph)
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position based off Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 6.807 ET at 207.15 mph.
• Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 5.287 ET at 273.16 mph, defeated Jasmine Salinas (5.312 ET at 276.01 mph) and Johnny Ahten (5.329 ET at 271.68 mph). Summer Richardson also advanced to Round 2 (5.262 ET at 276.41 mph).
• Round 2: 5.293 ET at 273.94 mph, defeated Summer Richardson (5.318 ET at 273.50 mph) and Shawn Cowie (10.094 ET at 80.94 mph). Chris Demke also advanced to the Finals (5.330 ET at 273.61 mph).
• Final: 5.324 ET at 269.62 mph, defeated Todd Bruce (5.332 ET at 270.97 mph). Chris Demke ran third (5.355 ET at 270.64 mph) and Mike Coughlin finished fourth (5.351 ET at 270.75 mph).
• Currently second in the championship standings, 31 points behind Top Alcohol leader Julie Nataas.

Notes of Interest

• Stewart earned his first win in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series in his fifth start. It marks the 43rd consecutive season he has earned a motorsports victory.
• Stewart has now won an event on all tracks at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway property:
• He won his first USAC Silver Crown event at the Las Vegas dirt track on October 18, 1997.
• Captured his 1997 IndyCar championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Won in a USAC midget in 2002 at the Las Vegas Bullring pavement short-track also won in a sprint car in the same night.
• Won the 2010 Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Earned the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series event win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval track.
• Stewart also earned a victory as team owner with Funny Car driver Matt Hagan for Tony Stewart Racing in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.
• The NHRA 4-Wide Nationals victory marks the first win for Mobil 1 in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series with Stewart.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the Mobil 1 Top Alcohol Dragster

“I know my win isn’t a win in the pro series class, but I’m really proud of it. The field has been tight all weekend and it was tight last year in the fall. I was just ecstatic to make the finals last year, but today, I told Leah ‘I’m not just happy to be in the finals. I want this.’ We are racers and we always want to win. No one likes losing. I think it was the perfect situation last year with Madison (Payne) winning her first national race and the rookie finishing second. The beginning of the season has been super difficult with this new car. We went testing and found a couple things that were wrong and went through the car with a fine-toothed comb to make it better. I knew as soon as I did the burnout on Friday that this was a better car. It was a hard day on Friday because it shook both sessions. We found the speed and got it balanced and need more runs to get it dialed-in. The third qualifying session was important because we weren’t yet qualified, so that run is the only one we have for data with this setup. It shows why Rich McPhillips has been as successful as he has because he can sit there and pick apart sections of the racetrack that we need to be better at. I’m so proud of my whole McPhillips Racing crew and their hard work.”

Next Up

The next event on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series schedule is the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals April 28-30 at Carolina (N.C) Dragway.

-TSR-

Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]