For the first time in his NHRA career Tony Stewart wins in Top Alcohol Dragster in Las Vegas.
In his first career national event last year, Stewart lost by one inch in the fall event in Las Vegas. Sunday, Stewart avenged that loss in the Vegas NHRA 4-Wide Nationals by about the same amount that he lost in the fall, one inch.
Top Alcohol Dragster runs the 4-Wide set up similar to the Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series during this event in Las Vegas. Stewart qualified 5th heading into race day and put together a great Sunday. He marched his way through the field taking out some of the best drivers in the sport.
The final saw Stewart runs a 5.32 at 269mph. With the best elapsed time in the finals, Stewart used the car to get the win as he was second off the line with a .032 reaction time. Stewart beat Todd Bruce, Chris Demke and Mike Coughlin in the final round.
“It’s pretty cool. I’ve won at every racetrack on LVMS property…We really struggled with this car. This McPhillips team doesn’t have any quit in them…I got tired of looking at Leah’s Wally’s on the table and wanted to get one of my own,” Stewart on http://NHRA.tv.
Stewart, as mentioned, has now won at all of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway tracks. He has won at the Bullring, dirt track, NASCAR track and now the drag strip.
Stewart adds NHRA to his long list of motorsports where he has collected a win. He has won a race in NASCAR, IndyCar, USAC Silver Crown, midget cars, World of Outlaws, All Star Circuit of Champions, late models, SRX cars and now NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster.
This is a new car for the McPhillips Racing team. It is not the same car that Stewart took to finals in last fall’s event. After battling some issues to start the year in Gainesville, Stewart and the McPhillips group found their groove and rode it to victory.
It wasn’t the easiest of starts for Stewart. However, he wasted no time getting his first victory.
This also went down as a double for Stewart. His NHRA Funny Car team with Matt Hagan went on to win the 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas as well. It was Hagan’s third win of 2023.
