Leah Pruett Will Step Away From NHRA Drag Racing Series to Start a Family

The Gist:

• Leah Pruett is a professional drag racer known for her success in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
• She married former NASCAR driver Tony "Smoke" Stewart on Nov. 21, 2021.
• In December 2023, Leah announced she's stepping away from racing to focus on starting a family.

Since joining the professional drag racing scene, Leah Pruett has achieved quite a bit of success. She has clinched numerous victories in the Top Fuel and Factory Stock Showdown categories, consistently establishing herself as a formidable competitor in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing circuit.

Fast forward a little over a decade from her debut, Leah is shifting her attention from the racetrack to embark on a new chapter — starting a family. Wait, is it possible that Leah Pruett is pregnant? Read on for more details!

At the time of writing, Leah Pruett is not pregnant. However, in December 2023, she announced that she would step away from the NHRA drag racing series in 2024 to focus on starting a family with her NASCAR Hall of Fame husband, Tony Stewart. For the upcoming season, Tony will step into the driver's seat of her Top Fuel dragster.

"This is an incredibly personal decision, and what led to making this decision are other personal situations that have happened in my life and our lives," Leah told The Associated Press in an interview. "Time is not on anyone's side, and time is not gender neutral. But when it comes to being a female ... time is particularly not on your side."

She said, "One of the decision-making factors was, 'What do we want our life to look like when we have a family?' And it is easy to sit back and have the immediate view that we've got this killer race team, and we can do what we didn't do this year — which is win a championship."

"But stepping back and thinking about long-term and what our family looks like, it was just the right time at the right decision," Leah concluded.

Leah revealed to The Associated Press that she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disorder that prevents her thyroid from producing hormones. She's uncertain how her condition will affect her attempts to get pregnant.

"That plays a part into my health, which means I need more time to start a family," Leah explained. "The reason I bring that up is because people can relate to that, and there's a human element beyond just 'Oh, it's the right time for us, and everything is so great for us.'"

She continued, "Hashimoto's gives me a lot of challenges throughout the year in racing, and it took a lot to get that under control just to race, more or less under control to start a family. There are no guarantees or promises on when I will be back in the seat, but I have every intention of returning as soon as I can. Everything in my heart says that I will return to driving Top Fuel as soon as I feel ready."