After some time out of the seat, Pruett's ready to get back to business

Leah Pruett checked her watch and noted that in a few hours, it would be time to stop talking and start doing. 

And what would Pruett be doing? Hitting the throttle of her NHRA Top Fuel dragster for a run in race weekend competition at Gainesville Raceway. For the last two seasons, Pruett watched the car do the same thing, but with her standing behind it. The decision to start a family with her husband, Tony Stewart, meant Pruett had to vacate her seat in 2024. 

“I don’t really think there are enough words for how excited I am to be back,” said Pruett (pictured above in 2023). “More than anything, here in about (looks at watch), we can stop talking about it and start doing it, and that’s truly what I’m looking forward to. There has been so much preparation in my mind… and with the team, and I can’t wait to get back in that cockpit with a room full of fans and the whole vibe of everything the NHRA brings and just blast off. Man, let’s go.” 

Pruett and Stewart will now race against each other instead of being each other’s cheerleader. Stewart, who drove Pruett’s car the last two seasons, has moved to the newly formed Elite Motorsports dragster team for Richard Freeman. But it’ll be friendly competition – at least when the helmets are off. 

Additionally, Elite Motorsports and Tony Stewart Racing are in an alliance. The two sides will work closely together. 

“The Gatornationals for me have always been big,” said Pruett of her anticipation for this season compared to the past. “It’s where I ran my first Pro Mod in testing and Pro Mod (race), and we started TSR nitro kicking off at Gatornationals. But I feel like the difference is all of that was new. None of this is new this year, except for me inside the car. It’s the same crew chiefs, Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala, same partners, and this is actually my 10th anniversary with Dodge. So, it’s more like a renew than new is how I look at it. 

“With that, I have a level of confidence that I didn’t have before when I had those other new beginnings. This is like old hat to a degree. I have to remind myself of that. My brain wants it to be firing and so exciting and to absorb what is new and everything we’re seeing and feeling. But I need to have that mature, emotional mindset of, yes, it’s all new, but it’s the same. So, let’s pick up where we were in 2023 and move on, and that’s the comfortable feeling I have.”

In her time out of the car, Pruett only missed two race weekends. The first was when she gave birth to her son, Dominic, the weekend of the 2024 season finale. The second was last year, when she had a family reunion during the Seattle race weekend. Other than that, Pruett was at the track in a supporting role for the team or working with sponsors and crew chiefs. 

But the last time Pruett was in the car? The finale of the 2023 season when she made it to the final round in Top Fuel and lost to Doug Kalitta. It was the winner-take-all matchup for the championship. 

“I will say when we made the first 10 (runs), we were just testing parts and systems and pieces, so we were just making a half-track run, and we’re making it down every single time,” Pruett said of getting back into the swing of things during pre-season testing. “It was so difficult not to go from half-track to the finish line. By the third day, I told Neal, ‘I’d really like to see the finish line. That’s been a couple of years.’ He’s like, ‘I didn’t even think of that.’ So, we continued on, and the first time I made it to the finish line, I was off by about 20 feet, had all my cadence in order, and for me, that was important. 

“We did end up smoking the tires a couple of times, and I caught it even quicker than I would before when I was in the seat. So, from a physical standpoint, I don’t feel that I really left the seat, but maybe just a couple runs getting right back in.”

Pruett is seeking her first win in the Gatornationals.