Stewart’s Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champions raced winged sprint cars Saturday, the first time the circuit has participated in races at Stateline since 1970 when Lee Osborne won the event.

“(Stewart) started out in sprint cars, and I think that’s his love,” said Jean Scott, one of three owners of Stateline Speedway.

Scott has always been a fan of Stewart’s and was ecstatic to get him and his circuit participating in the speedway.

“It’s a big deal,” Scott said.

She noted that the race track has struggled some in the past couple years since she, her husband Jim and Dave Turner took ownership of Stateline Speedway, and Stewart’s appearance was considered a boost to bring in new kinds of fans.

Sprint cars bring in new and different kinds of fans than the usual late-model car races do at the track. Scott said there were attendees at Saturday’s races who had never been there before.

Scott was able to meet Stewart and greeted him and his fiancee.

“He’s just a plain old guy, just like anybody else,” Scott said.

Stateline’s announcer Dan Moore first reached out to Stewart’s team to begin the process of figuring out logistics to get the Arctic Cats present. Stewart’s team scouted the speedway last fall for safety reasons and inspected the fencing and track to make sure the track was fitting for Stewart.

Setting up a date for Stewart to come was a process, but once the site was vetted, Stewart chose Stateline to race on. As an owner himself at Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart mixes racing and facilitating other racers into his post-NASCAR life.

“Tony now is more involved on the owner side of racing rather than as a competitor,” said Jay Pees, public relations director of Stateline.

Pees did not expect Stewart to win the 35-lap feature race due to the quality of many of the other racers present who compete on a more regular basis.

“Tony’s the type of guy who enjoys racing,” Pees said.

Drivers from 10 states, Canada and Australia joined Stewart on the track Saturday. Another NASCAR racer, Dave Blaney, participated in the winged sprint car races, making for 29 cars in total.

“There’s some really good talent,” Moore said.

Moore was glad to take a chance on getting a former NASCAR star at his race track.

“It just took a lot of time and a lot of persistence,” Moore said. “(Stewart) is here to enjoy himself and race and put a show on for the fans.”

Moore was pleased with an excellent turnout and is already looking forward to next year as he sees Stewart returning to Stateline in 2019.

“It’s a good thing for the area,” Moore said of the speedway, its successful races in the summer season and its ability to bring a national series with celebrity power to the track.

“There’s some big-time sprint car guys tonight,” Moore said, calling the participants a “great field of cars” and a “great bunch of guys.”

Saturday’s race winner was Carson Macedo from Lemoore, California. Stewart placed fourth overall.

Moore encourages the public to come out to Stateline Speedway and give racing sports a chance. Between the Scott and Turner families, Stateline is ran as a family affair, and they plan on delivering more racing action for people to enjoy. Stateline has operated since 1956 and has been in continuous operation for all 62 years since then.