In a year of firsts for racing legend Tony Stewart, the Top Fuel points leader added two more on Saturday at Bristol Dragway, picking up his first career No. 1 qualifier and winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge specialty race for the first time during the 24th annual Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
J.R. Todd (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, while Austin Prock (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Brayden Davis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) qualified No. 1 at the eighth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
In the final of the specialty race against Doug Kalitta, Stewart went a strong 3.803-seconds at 324.05 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage dragster to cap off a thrilling day for the NASCAR Hall of Famer. It snapped Kalitta Motorsports’ Top Fuel undefeated streak in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge this year as well, as they had remarkably won the first six of the season.
But Saturday in Thunder Valley belonged to Stewart, as he also qualified No. 1 for the first time in his Top Fuel career, going an impressive 3.755 at 325.77 during the first session of the day. Making a pair of consistent passes could bode well for Sunday, too, as Stewart looks to add to his impressive streak. Along with a pair of wins this year, Stewart has advanced to five straight final rounds and will open eliminations on Sunday against Cody Krohn, looking for his first NHRA win at Bristol.
“This is great, obviously. We’ve been in the final of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and haven’t been able to finish it. Now, to win one and get our first low qualifier is big,” Stewart said. “For our team it’s a huge accomplishment. We keep checking boxes off. We’ve got a car that is repeatable and consistent.
“We’ve got tricky conditions out here. I know a lot of work has gone on here of since last year and I appreciate the effort that Bristol has put into it. That plays into our hands. We don’t have a car that can go 3.64 or that runs 340-mph. I’m actually encouraged about last week. In Epping, we were able to throw down and we were respectable. To see what we did in these conditions, we feel like our program is just getting stronger and stronger.”
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