Tony Stewart Overwhelmed After NHRA Breakthrough

After the race, Tony Stewart was quick to credit his Elite Motorsports squad. He said. “We got such a cool group of guys over there, and I love my guys at TSR (Tony Stewart Racing) too. It was nice to see Leah. I mean, Justin took her out, but she had her best leg of the weekend, so I love seeing her do her thing.”

The emotional impact of the win was evident as Stewart described the “cool feeling” further. More than beating Ashley on track, it was his team’s celebration that moved him.

“You don’t get winded like this driving the car. It’s the excessive celebration when you see that 99-cent damn light bulb on the wall come on and know that you won this thing,” Stewart added. “And you’re going up against the best guy in the class, and not by a little, he’s that badass by a lot. So, just to run with him and, you know, be close to him leaving and give this thing a chance of beating him, that’s pretty cool.”

Tony Stewart’s driver scores big at NHRA Pomona

While Tony Stewart’s success in Top Fuel at Pomona took the limelight, that wasn’t all he won on Sunday. His team, Tony Stewart Racing, also won and recorded its own milestone in the Funny Car category.

The Lucas Oil Winternationals witnessed the 1000th Funny Car event in NHRA history, and TSR’s Matt Hagan emerged triumphant. Hagan’s 3.876-second run at 330.39 mph beat Ron Capps’ 3.893-second pass at 334.32 mph in a super-close finish.

Hagan was elated to win on the same day his boss, Stewart, recorded a milestone win for Elite Motorsports.

“I was telling Tony that sometimes you just wake up and you know today’s going to be good, and it was great,” said Hagan (via Heavy.com). “To win with the boss man to double up… this race track has shown me so much love over the years. Racing Capps, man, it was like back in the day, throwing it down. It just felt right.”

NHRA’s next stop is the 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, NC, from April 23-26.