Tony Stewart and his wife Leah Pruett have announced that they are expecting their first child together.
The couple announced the news Monday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The due date will be sometime in November. Stewart and Pruett also revealed that they will have a boy, using smoke from an NHRA drag race to make the announcement.
I’m so excited to start a family with this incredibly beautiful love of my life @LeahPruett_TF. Can’t wait to meet this little guy. This is the ultimate 🏆 pic.twitter.com/UjlFq7a7s7
— Tony Stewart (@TonyStewart) June 24, 2024
Starting a family has been a goal for Stewart and Pruett, who tied the knot in November 2021.
Back in December 2023, Pruett announced that she would step away from NHRA drag racing for the 2024 season so that she and Stewart could focus on starting a family. Though the plan was for Pruett to remain involved with the team with various technical projects.
This decision ended Pruett's 27-year consecutive run in the NHRA competition, which included 12 wins in Top Fuel, three in Pro Mod, and three in Factory Stock Showdown.
"Drag racing has been an important part of my life for over three-quarters of my life," Pruett said in a statement in December. "Twenty-seven years of racing in the NHRA has molded who I am, and I am extremely grateful for the life it has given me.
"Through a long series of thought processes and a decision that did not happen overnight, I feel that stepping out of the seat right now is what's best for myself and Tony to start a family."
Tony Stewart Racing, the team fielding Pruett's Top Fuel dragster, also announced that Stewart would take over the entry for the 2024 season. He would run the full schedule while working with crew chief Neal Strausbaugh.
"I am very proud of my wife," Stewart said in December. "To make a decision like this has got to be extremely hard. I don't think from a male's perspective that we can fully grasp it. To be a competitive, professional race-car driver and have to make the decision to take yourself out of the seat to start a family is not a position most males would want to be put in.
"We had discussed starting a family, and this was her decision. In those discussions, we came to the conclusion that the timing was up to her. I was very supportive as to whether she wanted to do it now or years from now. I'm very humbled that Leah and Neal felt I was the driver to fill in for her. I feel honored that I can do that for my wife and this team."