"It's drastically different" - $90M Tony Stewart explains the significant contrast between NASCAR and NHRA

Tony Stewart appeared on Kevin Harvick’s podcast and explained the differences between NASCAR and NHRA. Stewart said the two racing series were 'drastically’ different, from the racing discipline on the drivers’ side to the strategies and car tune-ups on the crews’ side.

Following a multi-championship career in the NASCAR Cup Series, Tony Stewart, who is worth $90 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth), found himself racing in the NHRA, a.k.a. National Hot Rod Association. Stewart entered as a Top Fuel rookie this year as a substitute driver for his wife Leah Pruett, who is expecting a child with her husband in November.

According to Tony Stewart, the differences between NASCAR and NHRA are significant. For starters, NASCAR drivers usually compete for about three hours in a race, a huge contrast to NHRA, where dragsters only run about three to four seconds.

“It’s not like what you and I were used to where we’ve got a three-and-a-half-hour race. We’ve got six, eight pit stops that we’re going to have during the day, and we got three, four, five hundred laps to get the job done. If we make a mistake, we’re going to fix it,” Tony Stewart explained on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast.

“Drag racing, it’s the opposite of that. Instead of being in the car for three and a half hours, you’re literally driving the car three and a half seconds, and going from zero to 330 miles per hour in 3.6, 3.7 seconds on a good run. So it’s drastically different," he added.

The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion told his former Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick that 70 percent of the performance in stock car racing is down to the driver, with the rest of the 30 percent on the crews. On the other hand, a good run in NHRA tends to come down to the setup and tuning more rather than the driver input.

In addition, Stewart said NHRA race suits weighed about 10 lbs heavier than NASCAR uniforms. That’s because of the hazard of running an 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster compared to a stock car, which normally has around 650 horses.

The 53-year-old driver concluded by saying:

“You’ve really got something that’s drastically different than any form of motorsports that you and I have ever been part of.”

Tony Stewart didn’t take long to find his footing in NHRA as he won his first divisional championship in the Top Alcohol Dragster class on October 5, 2024.

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Tony Stewart calls Kyle Larson ‘once-in-a-lifetime type guy’ amid comparison with Max Verstappen

The racing world was shaken after Kyle Larson claimed he is the better all-around driver than three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen. In the same podcast episode, Tony Stewart weighed in on the comparison, saying Larson is a “once-in-a-lifetime type guy” without downplaying Verstappen.

Stewart believes every top driver, including the F1 Red Bull Racing star, can adapt to any racing discipline, citing F1 driver Kevin Magnussen’s impressive run in a sprint car.

For now, though, the Indiana native is excited to see Larson have another go in an open-wheeler for the Indianapolis 500 next year.

Speaking to Kevin Harvick, Stewart said:

“I just like watching him drive a racecar. He just polarizes people with what he can do behind the steering wheel and...he's a guy that's once in a lifetime type guy. It seems like every generation has that one guy that stands out above the rest and Kyle's that guy." [2:06]

Kyle Larson is set to attempt The Double where he will compete at the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in May next year.