LEAH PRUETT Returns to Top Fuel Driver’s Seat in 2026 After Family Hiatus

September 9, 2025

by Drag Illustrated // from www.floracing.com

GRRL! SUMMARY:

LEAH PRUETT officially announces her return to the driver’s seat of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster for the 2026 NHRA season after stepping away in 2024 to start a family with husband Tony Stewart. The 12-time NHRA Top Fuel event winner welcomed son Dominic in November 2024 and has remained actively involved in team operations, working on marketing initiatives and technical projects with crew chiefs Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala during her hiatus.
While PRUETT took her well-deserved family time, Tony Stewart stepped up as her replacement driver and absolutely delivered – earning 2024 NHRA Rookie of the Year honors, clinching the 2025 Regular Season Championship, and currently leading the Top Fuel points heading into the Countdown. Stewart’s two wins this season at Las Vegas and Joliet prove that keeping the seat warm for your wife can be done with championship-level style, though he’s clearly ready to hand the keys back to the rightful owner.
PRUETT’s return reunites her with a proven winning combination – she previously scored three victories with TSR including the team’s first Top Fuel win at Denver in 2022, plus two wins and four runner-ups in 2023 that helped her achieve a career-best third-place championship finish. With crew chiefs Strausbaugh and Domagala continuing their successful partnership and Matt Hagan anchoring the Funny Car side as the reigning champion, TSR’s two-car operation looks set to remain a dominant force as PRUETT prepares to chase her first Top Fuel championship with “a little guy in tow everywhere I go.”