Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart spent most of his life around racing, but after marrying drag racer Leah Pruett and then having his first child, Dominic, he shifted his focus away from his career.
Stewart and Pruett, who met in 2019, announced their engagement in March 2021 and married later that year. And in November 2024, they welcomed their first child, Dominic James Stewart.
Thanks for the submission!
During a recent conversation with Paul Tracy on the Racers Unchained podcast, Stewart explained that for almost five decades, he lived as a bachelor and kept racing above everything else. The former IndyCar champion has also built a reputation as one of the most versatile drivers in motorsports. He raced sprint, open wheel, and stock cars, and now drives the dragster in the NHRA drag racing series.
However, Stewart’s career is not the focal point of his life now.
“Don’t have to worry about spending time with a spouse and the girls I dated, they, every one of them knew that racing was the number one priority and they weren’t even a close second. They were a distant second to motorsports,” Tony Stewart said (39:50 onwards).
“So, anything in motorsports that I wanted to do, I always was going to do. I skipped going to weddings, going to different family functions with girlfriends in the past just because I had a race. I was going racing. That’s just what I did. And and they didn’t get upset about it cuz they knew it going into it. But it is most definitely since I met Leah, absolutely changed my life.”
Stewart continued that a bad or good race day doesn’t dictate his whole week nowadays. His schedule revolves around his son.
“Filled in a lot of gaps” Tony Stewart reflects on family life with Leah Pruett and Dominic
Tony Stewart entered the 2026 NHRA season with a new team after his wife, Leah Pruett, returned to the cockpit of the Dodge Top Fuel dragster. She paused her racing career in 2024 to start a family with Stewart. With her back in Tony Stewart Racing’s car, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, who took the 2024 NHRA Rookie of the Year award, has joined Elite Motorsports for the 2026 season.
During the same episode of the Racers Unchained podcast, the 54-year-old mentionend mentioned how fatherhood has changed his daily routine and priorities.
“This 11 month old kid is literally dictating everything we do in our lives right now, but it is so cool at the same time,” Tony Stewart said (42:26).
“And so between Leah and and Dominic, it’s I think it’s filled in a lot of gaps that I didn’t realize I had in my life that that I needed help with,” he added.
Stewart will return to the NHRA Gatornationals for the 75th season of the drag racing series in Gainesville from, Thurday March 5 to Sunday, March 8.
Edited by Hitesh Nigam
