Smoke out: Tony Stewart DQ'd from NHRA Carolina Nationals after parts violation
Tony Stewart – or more precisely, the Top Alcohol Dragster that he drives in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series – was disqualified from the NHRA’s Betway Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway on Saturday.
NHRA technical officials inspected the car – owned by McPhillips Racing, for whom Stewart drives for but does not own the car – prior to its first run of eliminations on Saturday and determined that it contained unapproved ignition parts, according to a NHRA statement.
Because the car was disqualified from further competition during the weekend’s final eliminations, Stewart was unable to continue, as well.
As a result, the NASCAR Hall of Famer will earn no points from this weekend, a tough blow after winning last Sunday at Reading, Pa., allowing him to take over the TA/D points standings with his second national event triumph of the season. Stewart came into this weekend’s event near Charlotte, N.C., with a slim 64-point lead over second-ranked Julie Nataas.
McPhillips Racing issued a statement, which in part said the team “prides itself in being honorable in all of our racing competition. Prior to Tony’s Round 1 of eliminations at the Carolina Nationals, NHRA confiscated the magnetos on Tony’s Top Alcohol dragster.”
The statement continued, “It was brought to our attention that the magnetos, which we had purchased used from another team, were found to not be within NHRA’s tolerance. The part had been unknowingly modified prior to us purchasing it. The part is not required to be certified in our Top Alcohol category.
“We regret that Tony was unable to compete in the Carolina Nationals due to this violation. The team is solely owned by McPhillips and Tony has no say in the purchase of parts. McPhillips Racing accepts full responsibility and going forward, we will be more vigilant in inspecting and testing used parts that we purchase.”
There were two rounds of qualifying on Friday, with Stewart recording the fourth-quickest elapsed time (5.256 seconds at 271.02 mph) in the latter round. His DQ was costly as Nataas entered Saturday’s eliminations with the top ET of the class (5.124 seconds at 277.37 mph).
As it turned out, however, the first elimination round Saturday morning was cancelled due to Tropical Storm Ophelia blanketing the Charlotte area and all the way east to the North Carolina seacoast with at times heavy rain.
The rain stopped and eliminations were able to resume Saturday afternoon, but they were suspended as rain once again inundated the area. The rain also forced NHRA to cancel the final round of qualifying for the major pro classes, as well.
Eliminations are slated to begin again Sunday morning for both TA/D and Top Alcohol Funny Car, as well as the major pro classes. The weather forecast looks promising as the National Weather Service said there is only a 10 percent chance of rain during the day.
Even though he will leave Charlotte without any points, Stewart has a good chance of still winning the TA/D championship with three more national events still remaining: Ennis, Texas (Oct. 12-15), Las Vegas (Oct. 26-29) and Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 9-12).
If successful in winning the championship, Stewart would become the first driver in motorsports history to win championships in NASCAR (he won three in 2002, 2005 and 2011), IndyCar (he won once in 1997) and in NHRA competition.