LEAH PRUETT Returns to Her Own Top Fuel Car, Kicks Husband Out of Driver Seat

December 3, 2025

• LEAH PRUETT is making her triumphant return to NHRA Top Fuel competition in 2026 after a two-year break to start a family with Tony Stewart, literally evicting her husband from what was originally her dragster. “I had to kick my husband out to go race so I could get back in my race car,” she said with the kind of confidence that suggests Stewart better get comfortable sleeping on the couch when she inevitably outperforms him on track.
• The setup gets even better: while PRUETT reclaims her rightful place at Tony Stewart Racing, Stewart will be driving for Elite Motorsports as their guinea pig in their first-ever Top Fuel campaign. This means we get the delicious prospect of a married couple racing against each other in different teams, with PRUETT making it clear her main motivation for returning is “kicking his a-s.” Even Elite owner Richard Freeman is betting on PRUETT to deliver said whooping.
• What makes this particularly satisfying is that PRUETT barely missed the 2023 Top Fuel championship before stepping away, proving she’s returning from a position of strength rather than desperation. Stewart admits he “got fired at the end of the year by my own wife, from my own race team,” but the business alliance between TSR and Elite could revolutionize NHRA team operations. Still, the real story is watching a champion-caliber woman reclaim her seat and prepare to school her husband in the process.

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