Tony Stewart Lists Reason for NHRA Failure After a Series of Events “Went Wrong” for Smoke

While Tony Stewart‘s NASCAR Cup team is hitting some bumps on the track, Stewart himself is facing his own set of challenges filling in for his wife, Leah Pruett, in the NHRA races. Kicking things off at Gainesville Raceway, Stewart’s debut didn’t go as planned, bowing out in the first round of eliminations. The 52-year-old managed to make five passes during the season opener at Gatornationals — landing the ninth spot in qualifying before a close loss to Justin Ashley — and he pretty much nailed it.

However, the second race’s qualifying at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip was a different story, with Stewart running into a slew of problems. He took to Twitter to spill the beans on why NHRA disqualified his run.

Tony Stewart’s solid explanations for NHRA disqualification

Tony Stewart saw his debut race as a big win, even with an early exit. But the second race brought him back to earth. During the qualifying rounds, Tony snagged the third spot, but some issues with the timing system led to his run being disqualified. Now, Tony’s relying on his backup time of 4839 as he heads into the main event.

Landing in P13 place was a letdown because they dropped ten spots. This slip-up didn’t just knock them down the ladder; it also cost them a heap of bonus points from that qualifying session and overall. So, they’re facing a big hit to their points, not to mention the frustration as they gear up for the race, starting way back with racers like Josh Hart and Terry Toon.

Tony Stewart shared his side of the story about the bumpy ride at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip qualifier. He wrote, “This was one of those weekends where anything that could go wrong, went wrong. We had some track issues on Friday. It was really hard to get down the racetrack. A lot of cars struggled and we were one of them. We had to abort the run, but still got time in. Without a full field, we were in the race no matter what. Saturday’s qualifying session was really the elephant in the room for us.”

Stewart went on to explain more issues they encountered, “There was some kind of a glitch in the timing and scoring system, so #NHRA had to unfortunately throw our run out. […] Unfortunately, we smoked the tires about 100 feet out. It was awesome to be able to fly the black and gold colors for @Mobil1 and their 50th anniversary. I wish I could have taken them further through the day on Sunday.”

And to add to the weekend’s challenges, the race set for Sunday has been delayed, according to the latest updates.

The NHRA Winternationals finals hit a snag and is moving to Phoenix in April

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The NHRA’s Lucas Oil Winternationals was all set to rev up at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip when the weather decided to throw a wrench in the works. A bit of rain on Sunday afternoon quickly escalated into a full-blown storm, bringing thunder, lightning, and even hail.

With the weather showing no signs of clearing up, the decision was made to push the finish line of this race—the second in the 21-race Mission Foods Drag Racing Series—to the Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park near Phoenix, scheduled for April 5-7.

The qualifier marks Tony Stewart’s second hiccup in reaching the elimination finals in his debut year behind the wheel of an 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster. Here’s hoping the next races see Stewart hitting his stride and making his wife, Leah Pruett, proud.

Read More: Tony Stewart Reveals Unappreciated Motorsport Legend’s Legacy Pushing Him to Strive for More at 52