NHRA Finals 2024: Can Tony Stewart Clinch Top Fuel Championship After Miserable 19-Race Streak?

Who would've thought that Tony Stewart, at 53, would be competing as a rookie in a motorsport series? Well, he certainly didn't plan to compete in the NHRA Top Fuel season but had to serve as a backup for his wife, Leah Pruett. She decided to take a break from her racing pursuits and start a family with Smoke. And this is how Stewart finds himself competing against the championship at the NHRA level.

Having won races and championships at USAC, IndyCar, and NASCAR levels, there was a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding Tony Stewart's debut run. But his first season has been far from the dream run that everyone was expecting. It's one thing to run multiple laps on the ovals or the street course at NASCAR, but piloting an 11,000 horsepower Nitromethane-guzzling dragster is a different ball game. And with the championship weekend coming up, Stewart's chances of clinching the championship depend on the points system.

Is Tony Stewart still in the hunt for the NHRA Top Fuel title? The first year competing in the Top Fuel division has been about learning for Tony Stewart and his team. While he's hit a few bumps along the way, he's slowly but steadily honed his craft to compete in a race that lasts at most for 4-5 seconds. That's a big adjustment for a driver coming from a background of stock car racing.

Despite the struggles this year, Stewart managed to make it to the Countdown to the Championship. Similar to that of a NASCAR playoff where the top 10 drivers across the six races try to clinch the championship. Like NASCAR, the points also get reset once the driver makes the cut, but they are seeded based on performances throughout the season. And without any wins this year, Tony Stewart just wasn't able to close the gap on his rivals.

The NHRA Top Fuel is now headed into this weekend's 59th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at the legendary In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. While many NASCAR fans would've liked to see Stewart in contention for the title, he isn't a part of the championship conversation this weekend. And it all trickles down to his standing on the points table.

After the conclusion of five weeks of racing in the playoffs, Smoke finds himself on the tail end of the point's standing. With a total of 2215 points, he is placed 10th going into the championship weekend. And for context, he is 260 points adrift of title favorite Justin Ashley. It is going to be a three-way battle between Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, and Shawn Langdon.

However, Stewart can certainly finish his season on a high thanks to the points system that's designed for the playoffs and the final race in Pomona. The winner of the race at Pomona is rewarded with 150 points, while the runner-up gets 120. Similarly, the third-round loser bags 90 points, and this comes down to 60 for those who made it to the second round. Even the first-round loser gets 30 points to show up and race at the final event. Not to forget, there are special bonus points for performances and qualifying runs as well.

Things can change for Stewart in his second attempt next year as he will be able to focus on his racing project with TSR having left NASCAR for good.

Tony Stewart reveals the reason behind his NASCAR exit Stewart Haas Racing is not the powerhouse team that once competed for title wins every year in the last decade. Having won the first championship as the driver/owner, Stewart saw Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childress in the #4 team repeat the same in 2014. Along the way, they cemented them as the championship-contending organization. However, the turn of the new decade and the changing landscape in NASCAR ultimately forced Gene Haas and Tony Stewart to make the tough call of closing the team by the end of 2024.

Gene Haas decided to stick around by retaining a charter and started a new team, the Haas Factory Team. But, for Stewart, the current business model just wasn't appealing enough, and the current legal battle between 23XI Racing and NASCAR was a signal for him to call it quits on his involvement. "This is a time where things are drastically changing in sport. You look at what's going on with 23XI and Front Row Motorsports and their battle with NASCAR and the direction the things are going; it's not the direction I want to be a part of."

"This is the right time; this was never a part of a master plan, but this is, and as this year has gone on, it has become very clear that this is the right time for me to get out of sport. And I'm happy doing the stuff I'm doing now. I've always been somebody that's run all kinds of different series," Stewart said to Kevin Harvick on Happy Hour.