“I’m Going to Have to Commit”: Tony Stewart’s Honest Confession on the Challenges of Being a New Father

Tony Stewart might have seen the last of his days in the NASCAR Cup Series; however, if there is one thing he is just starting on just recently, it is fatherhood.

The former Cup Series team owner welcomed his son Dominic James Stewart with wife Leah Pruett in November last year after the couple committed to starting a family in 2024. Pruett also stepped down from her NHRA career to dedicate herself to motherhood and the eventual challenges of pregnancy.

With Dominc now over three months old, if there is one thing that the elder Stewart is yet to get his hands dirty with, figuratively and literally, it is changing diapers.

“I still am undefeated. At this point, I have not changed the diaper. I have told her I am ready in the right situation, so I would say. Keep tuned to social media because I will make sure the world knows when I change my first one,” quipped Stewart in hilarious fashion.

Admittedly, changing diapers in comparison to racing cars at over 200 miles an hour is certainly a change of pace, the likes of which Tony Stewart is yet to get behind.

Despite not having done the same yet, the 53-year-old also confessed how he is weirdly looking forward to the same. “I feel like it’s a rite of passage to a certain degree as a father. So it is coming.”

“I’ve watched her (Leah, Tony’s wife) pull the diaper down, and I’ve seen what’s in there, and I immediately exit stage fright. So I’m going to have to commit to this, but once we do the first one, it’d be fine,” anticipated the former owner of the now defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.

With Stewart’s wife Leah looking forward to getting back into competitive racing in the NHRA, Stewart’s days as a fill-in for his wife are also numbered. It remains to be seen how soon Pruett will feel up to the task, which would mean replacing her husband in what is originally her car and team.

“Whatever time, whatever event that is, if midseason she says she wants to get back in that car, I will gladly step out of that car for my wife. That’s why we started this program,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Stewart’s old rodeo, the NASCAR Cup Series, prepares to go racing from Sin City this Sunday for the 2025 Pennzoil 400. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell will be looking to clinch his fourth consecutive victory, a feat last achieved by Jimmie Johnson in 2007.