Tony Stewart and Doug Kalitta collided on Sunday during the start of the Countdown to the Championship at Maple Grove Raceway, which sent Stewart's Top Fuel dragster onto its side.
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The incident occurred after the two drivers advanced to E2. The two veteran racers finished their runs — with Kalitta winning at 335 mph — and entered the cooldown area. However, Kalitta's Top Fuel dragster got out of shape. It veered into Stewart's lane as they both crashed.
Kalitta's dragster slid back to the right as parts flew off in every direction. Stewart's dragster bounced onto its left side before landing on all four wheels again. The dragster then rode the wall for a bit.
.@Doug_Kalitta and @TonyStewart collided during RD 2 of eliminations at the 40th #ReadingNats presented by Nitro Fish!
Both exited the car under their own power.
Tune into FS1 now to see what’s already been a wild start to the #NHRACountdown! pic.twitter.com/xexn48A4mT
— NHRA (@NHRA) September 14, 2025
Both drivers exited their dragsters under their own power. NHRA released a statement after the incident saying that they were both alert. They underwent evaluation from NHRA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Surface.
"I don't have a damn clue, honestly," Stewart, the Top Fuel regular-season champion, told Fox Sports about the crash. "I don't remember any of it. The first thing I remember, they're waking me up here. Not sure what happened. It appears to be pretty massive.
"Looking at Doug's car and my car, I'm glad PBRC builds our cars, because we have safe race cars, obviously. I'm as curious as everybody else is to what happened. I just know that we're not where we're supposed to be at the end of a run here. So, just confused.
"I got one hell of a headache and banged my left hand up. But I've been through sprint car crashes way worse than this, I'm pretty sure. We're good. We're good. We're fine. I promise we're fine."
Said Kalitta, "It was just unfortunate. It happened so quickly, there was nothing I could really do. ...Fortunately, Tony and I are good. That's the main thing."
