NASCAR icon and NHRA Top Fuel rookie, Tony Stewart has officially become a father for the first time. His wife Leah Pruett had taken a sabbatical from her racing commitments to start a family with Smoke. The couple had been active about their pregnancy journey online and now the moment has finally arrived for them. And the timing of the baby boy’s arrival couldn’t have been sweeter.

Stewart was about to jump into his TSR dragster for the final NHRA race weekend at Pomona drag strip. But little did he know that he would be blessed with the best possible news of the year ahead of the big race. Tony Stewart Racing Nitro shared the news about baby Stewart’s arrival on X.

“.@TonyStewart lands back at @PomonaDragstrip as a new dad! 💙👶🏼.” TSR team shared a post of Stewart’s plane landing at the racing venues. This was followed up by a message on his team hauler, “It’s a boy!” This is indeed a joyous occasion not just for Stewart’s immediate family but his racing family as well.

Yesterday, Tony Stewart completed his qualifying event and then flew back home to be with his wife. And now that he’s back as a father, he was excited to share this news with everyone. The 53-year-old racer planted a sticker on his dragster with the label “DAD” before heading out to compete on the drag strip.

TSR also shared a message by Tony and Leah, revealing the name of the baby in a post. “Meet our new teammate, Dominic James Stewart ☺️💙Momma @LeahPruett_TF and baby are doing great. Congratulations LP and @TonyStewart on becoming new parents! Only Tony could pull off qualifying, rushing to Phoenix to make it in time for the delivery, then back to @PomonaDragstrip for race day. Let’s go win Dominic a 🏆”

As soon as the news about the arrival of the baby boy at the Stewart family made it to the race fans, they quickly showered the couple with best wishes and congratulatory messages.

Fans congratulate Tony and Leah on the arrival of baby Stewart

The 2024 NHRA Top Fuel season hasn’t been easy on Smoke. Competing as a rookie against the best dragsters in the country, he hasn’t been able to register a single win in over 19 events throughout the year. However, a personal milestone in celebrating the arrival of his baby boy certainly makes amends for all of that. It wasn’t easy for the couple early on in the journey to start a family, particularly for Leah Pruett. Because she suffered from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, there were complications when it came to having a child. As a result, fans felt a wave of joy when Stewart and Pruett finally had their baby boy. Sharing a similar sentiment, a fan replied with a wholesome message stating, “Best trophy yet.” 

While the couple are expert race car drivers, this is their first time embarking on the parenthood journey. While the racing aspect of the 2024 season has been mixed for the most part, this news certainly lifted the mood inside the TSR camp and also among Stewart’s ardent supporters. “Congrats Tony & Leah on birth of your first child!”

Now, we’ve seen a trend of fans already predicting the newborn baby’s fate to carry on the family’s racing legacy with other drivers. And, guess what? It happened again with this news, as one of the fans hoped that the baby boy would follow in his parent’s footsteps and become a race car driver. “Congratulations, to Leah and Tony! Today all champions will get 👑. Diffidently a future champion. Congrats 👍” It’s not strange for children to carry on the legacy of their parents in the world of racing. It could even become a way for Tony Stewart to use his years of experience and mentor a young racer to glory.

Thanks to Pruett’s constant updates about her pregnancy journey, fans eagerly anticipated this moment. And they certainly were ecstatic to see their idols welcome their first child and extend the Stewart family. “Hell yes!! Congrats to you and Leah!! I hope mommy & baby are doing great!!”

“Congrats! Being a dad is one the greatest things ever!!” and “Congratulations @TonyStewart and @LeahPruett_TF” the fans added. Well, Stewart did confess about shifting his focus on his personal life and racing at NHRA after his exit from NASCAR. And his manifestation has now come to fruition as he becomes a dad for the first time. However, as Leah Pruett explained earlier in the week, Smoke may have faced scheduling conflicts since he was going to take part in the NHRA race on Sunday.