Rising drag racing star Tony Stewart (wait, what did we just say?) took over the top spot in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster nationals standings with a win at the Northeast Region event at Maple Grove Raceway on Saturday.
Stewart, driving for team owner Rich McPhillips, qualified his Mobil 1-backed dragster second with a 5.266 at 273.16 mph, and then defeated Mike Hepp, Dan Page, and teammate Matthew Cummings on his way to his third overall victory in the category (he also won the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas and the North Central division race in Indianapolis earlier this year).
“The weekend was a polar opposite compared to what happened last race in Columbus (Ohio),” said Stewart. “The whole team made a conscious decision to try and be on the other side of it. Even though we made it to the finals, we felt like we were a little too aggressive in Columbus and it bit us. We came into Reading with a plan to make sure we made a solid lap the first round of qualifying and we could press from there. We kept it in a good, safe zone. My teammate, Matt Cummings, had the fastest car. He was just a little quicker than us all weekend. I was able to have really good reaction times both days and that was a big key to getting us here. You hate to win a race at the end against your teammate due to a mechanical failure, but unfortunately it happens.”
In addition to a national championship, Stewart is also in contention for a regional championship in the North Central region. He leads the region with a total of 266 points, and with the latest win leads Julie Nataas, former champions Shawn Cowie and Joey Severance, and Jackie Fricke in the national points.
“Being able to win the race and take over the national points lead is something we’re extremely proud and happy about,” Tony Stewart added. “You don’t want to beat your teammate with misfortune like that, but it could happen to us, too. I was really proud of the McPhillips Racing team. They did a great job of giving Matt and I two cars that were dominant all weekend. It came down to the two of us. We’re gelling with this team and now that we have the points lead, the plan is to keep it. We don’t want to let it get away from us. We’ll stick to the plan and stay the course. We’ll keep executing run after run.”
Stewart can still collect points at five more national events and one additional regional that can be counted toward his total, and his closest challengers have similar points-earning opportunities remaining. So a long fight remains for the national title, but for now, a NASCAR and IndyCar champion and a motorsports hall of famer many times over is leading a drag racing points battle.