“Absolutely not,” Tony Stewart said when asked if he was ready to become a father back in July. A month earlier Stewart and his wife, Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett announced that they would be expecting their first child- a baby boy in November. The decision to become parents led to a whirlwind of change in both of their lives, with Pruett having to step away from the track and her husband stepping up in her place. But as easy as the transition was for Stewart from NASCAR to Top Fuel, he is finding the imminent switch to fatherhood equally daunting.

The big change in Stewart’s personal life also coincides with notable developments in his professional career. The iconic Stewart-Haas Racing will be shutting down operations at the end of this season, so for the 53-year-old, November could be an emotionally charged month. And it seems, the thought of having a kid is giving our legend cold feet but thanks to his wife Leah’s determination, and his firsthand experience watching Kevin and DeLana Harvick’s parental journey, Smoke is well-prepared for the next step of his glorious life.

Kevin Harvick gives Tony Stewart a reality check as baby countdown begins

Kevin Harvick & Tony Stewart share an intricate friendship. On the track, they never gave each other an inch. Off it, there was little to separate the two. Stewart will always be “Uncle Smoke,” for “The Closer’s” kids. And come November, Harvick gets to return that favor. During a Happy Hour segment on October 24, Stewart and Kevin Harvick reunited in the public eye after what felt like ages, reminding us just how strong that bond remains. During the discussion, Harvick brought up Stewart’s situation.

“I look back at some of these scenarios whether it was with the monkey or with the tiger,” began Harvick on NASCAR on Fox on YouTube. “Was on my way to Kansas one time and I got a call (from Stewart) before I left. ‘Hey, we’re going to leave the monkey in the cage. I need you to take this monkey. Put it in the backseat of your car. I’m gonna leave it in the FBO… Go to my motor home, and just put it inside the steps… That isn’t an option. I hope you know that you can’t just drop it off to somebody else.”

For those wondering what Harvick’s on about. “Tony the Tiger” is an animal lover, in the truest sense of the phrase. Back in 2004, Greensboro.com reported that the 3x Cup champ had “three house dogs, about 60 greyhounds, tropical fish, a tiger (named Tangie)… a rabbit, an iguana, and a cat until it was discovered he was allergic to cats.” But Stewart’s favorite was Mojo, a Patas monkey native to Central Africa. He had to donate Mojo to the Louisville Zoo once it turned three years old and became “aggressive”. But that’s not the point here.

Harvick then questioned Stewart: “Is there any anxiety or anything that you have leading up to, you know having‌ to give the baby?” Harvick recalled his overwhelming emotions at the time of his own children’s birth and gave his friend a reality check: “You’re driving home, and now you are responsible for this human being is way different than any dog or any monkey could ever be. Are there any concerns there that you have that you need to tell us about?” To this, Stewart admitted, “I’m scared to death bud.”

You see, Smoke isn’t just racing for himself now. Sure, he can replace his wife in her NHRA Dragster, win 300 MPH+ Top Fuel rounds, and run 8th in the series standings. But fatherhood? That’s another story. He explained to Harvick, “You’ve been around me long enough. I can barely take care of myself. You know, the dog. Thank God the dog, if it doesn’t get fed, it can make it till morning. And it doesn’t get too upset about it… I’m not going to get away with that with this kid. But you know the great thing is I’ve watched you and DeLana go through Parenthood, and go through two children, and watch the process. I’ve been able to watch from afar…”

Stewart’s emotions right now are the same as what he exhibited a few months back in July. At that time Stewart talked about how the challenge of being a father is unlike anything he has experienced before, even when compared to adjusting to the various changes in NASCAR over the years.

He mentioned, “With everything we’ve done in motorsports, I can walk up to a racecar I’ve never driven and I can look at it and understand the majority of it before I ever make a lap in it. [Having a child] is a side that I have zero setup sheets and zero knowledge about. My wife laughs at me because I have a ‘Daddy App’ that gives me hints and tips every day.”

Last year in December, Pruett announced her decision to step away from Top Fuel racing with motherhood being a driving force behind making this tough choice. Stewart seamlessly stepped up to replace her in the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) team’s 11,000-horsepower Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster.

On October 5, he won the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series North Central Division at St. Louis. This is Stewart’s first divisional championship in the Top Alcohol class in his second year of competition and he won three of the five events he entered and finished runner-up in another this year. But again, being a parent will prove to be a far steeper learning curve for the three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion.

During his conversation with Harvick, he mentioned how the family planned to bring in a midwife for the baby’s birth. “You know, we’ve got someone that’s going to help us, obviously, we got a lady that’s going to come be with us and help. And that is what I call my insurance policy because I don’t have a clue.” And for a first-time father, can anyone blame him?

“I mean, I can go get in I feel like any race car and I’m going to pick up part of it or some of it or a lot of it. May not know all of it. But can do enough to get by out of the gate; I have zero clue (with a baby)” – explained Stewart.

Meanwhile, Stewart revealed exactly how big of a ‘difference’ his wife has made in helping him adjust to fatherhood.“I guess you just learn as you go as what everybody says… Leah kind of jokes around about it because I get stressed out. My wife is like a concrete foundation,” beamed her husband and soon-to-be baby daddy. 

Stewart continued, “Nothing phases her… She’s just ready to rip. Ready for the kid to come and ready to be a parent. I’m like the Marx Brothers on the other side. You know, ‘woohoo,’ and jumping around.. Don’t know where we’re going.” But what he said next about Leah Pruett makes it clear why they’re such a good match, and will probably make great parents.

Leah Pruett holds down the fatherhood fort for Smoke

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On November 21, 2021, Tony Stewart and his 12x Top Fuel race-winning wife tied the knot in Los Cabos, Mexico. That was also the same year Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), his gloried Sprint car operations, entered the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, with Leah Pruett and Matt Hagan. Since then, TSR has won many accolades, similar to Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR.

The two are now coming together to tackle the challenge of parenthood and in this journey, Leah is turning out to be the more calming influence. In the wake of Smoke’s pre-fatherhood jitters he explained his wife, “goes, ‘I don’t know why you’re nervous… Crackheads do this and their kids seem to turn out okay. We can do this.’” 

“And so I kind of calm down once she says that,” reflected Stewart. He asserted that “just having somebody that we know will be there with us to make sure that we don’t make mistakes.” After all, he mentions, “This isn’t like you get a toy at the toy store and you take it home. You get it out of the box. You scratch it, you break it, you take it back, it’s under warranty, you get another one and bring it back home.” In his own words, “We can’t screw this up.”

For Stewart, the year 2024 holds great significance. His tenure as a Nascar Cup Series team owner will come to an end, marking the culmination of a 15-year journey for him. But as the sun sets on an aspect of his life, a new dawn of fatherhood awaits him next month. And from what he has to say, he is going to put up his best effort to be an amazing father, even though right it feels like a massive task.