NASCAR’s Tony Stewart Drives in Race Hours After Welcoming Baby in Another State

Fatherhood has already been a wild ride for NHRA driver Tony Stewart.

While in Pomona, Calif., and attempting to qualify for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on Saturday, Nov. 16, Stewart’s wife, Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, went into labor in Lake Havasu, Arizona, with their first child.

After qualifying seventh, Stewart, also known as Smoke, made a mad dash for the airport, successfully reaching the hospital in time for Leah to give birth to their son, Dominic James, in the early hours of Sunday, Nov. 17.

Then, just four hours after their son Dominic was born, Stewart boarded another airplane and headed back to Pomona to race in the semifinals of NHRA Finals. At 7 p.m. that same day, Stewart again flew back to Arizona to be with his family in the hospital.

“I think I’ve ran on adrenaline all day,” he said in a social media video. “I literally showed up at the race track this morning on two hours sleep, and I didn’t do near the work that my wife did in the last year, and especially the last 10 months.”

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The former NASCAR champion added, “The short three hours that I go to spend with [Dominic] overnight, you couldn’t put a price tag on it. I would do it all over again for that little boy and for my wife and for our family. I didn’t win a championship. I didn’t win a race today, but I feel like I put today in the category of wins and championships.” 

Stewart, 53, and Pruett, 36, announced their engagement in March 2021, and they tied the knot in November 2021 in Mexico.

After the family was able to catch their collective breaths, Leah shared a lengthy message on Instagram detailing the “eventful” weekend. In her social media post, she noted that she knew how important the race was for Stewart, so she hoped he’d be able to finish his remaining qualifying runs and be there for the birth 275 miles away.

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“Ultimately it was God’s will of how it all went down, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” Leah wrote. “Tony was able to fly in after Q4, as my labor really ramped up, supporting me the entire night. There had been a lot of big talk on his end for months how he wasn’t going to be in the room, but let me tell you, he was there for every moment and helping me through it all.»

“After 9 hours of building labor and 1.5 hours of pushing, I got to hold our perfect baby boy, and Tony did in fact, cut the cord,” she continued. “We are so happy with hearts so full. Thank you everyone for the love texts these past couple days. Giving birth was the most exhausting thing my body and mind has ever experienced.”

And, to bookend the weekend, Stewart was named NHRA Rookie of the Year at the NHRA awards ceremony on Monday, Nov. 18.