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In his second year as an NHRA nitro team owner, Tony Stewart won the Funny Car championship with driver Matt Hagan and finished No. 3 in Top Fuel with his wife, Leah Pruett. Stewart also used his influence and airtime in other motorsports venues to promote and popularize NHRA Drag Racing. For his efforts, Stewart has been named Person of the Year by the NHRA National Dragster All-Star Team panel.

Stewart, who drove to a pair of national event wins and a second-place finish in the Top Alcohol Dragster category en route to also being named to the NHRA National Dragster All-Star Team as Top Alcohol Driver of the Year, will transition to Top Fuel next season in the car driven this season by Pruett as the couple plans to start a family.

Stewart finished No. 2 in his first NHRA season in the Top Alcohol Dragster category but nonetheless impressed voters enough to name him Top Alcohol Driver of the Year.

Stewart, a standout in NASCAR, IndyCar, and dirt-car racing, won his first NHRA national event in Las Vegas and also won in Reading later in the year and claimed NHRA regional event victories in Indy and Reading.

Stewart finished ahead of the driver who beat him for the championship, Julie Nataas, as well as retiring Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Doug Gordon and TAFC championship runner-up Sean Bellemeur.