Last weekend during the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, Tony Stewart and Doug Kalitta were involved in a crash that left Stewart unconscious briefly and a concussion. After the crash both drivers exited their cars unassisted according to the NHRA.
Tony Stewart is the regular season champion in Top Fuel dragsters.
Stewart has issued a statement updating his status saying,”I just wanted to thank all of our fans, teammates, and most of all our racing family for checking on us yesterday. Wasn’t the day we had planned, but thankful to the NHRA Safety Safari and Dr. Surface for making sure we did all the right things in that situation. It definitely could have been way worse. Everyone that climbs into a racecar knows it can happen at any moment, but it’s a great example of how we’re all human and how the entire racing community cares for each other.”
Stewart has indicated that he will be in the car for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte this weekend; saying, “I’m sore today, but that’s to be expected, and he can’t wait to get back to the track Friday and continue this amazing battle for a World Championship.”
Speaking on the accident Stewart noted that he doesn’t remember anything, saying, “the first thing I remember, they’re waking me up here. Not sure what happened, but it appears to have been pretty massive. Looking at Doug’s car and my car, I’m glad PBRC builds our cars, because we have safe race cars, obviously. I’m as curious as everybody else as to what happened. I just know that we’re not where we’re supposed to be at the end of a run here. So, just confused.”
Smoke added, “I got one hell of a headache and banged my left hand up. But I’ve been through Sprint Car crashes way worse than this, I’m pretty sure. We’re good. We’re good. We’re fine. I promise we’re fine.”
Last week, Stewart and wife Leah Pruett announced that she would be returning to the car for the 2026 season after the birth of their son late last year.