Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart will hang up his NASCAR helmet at the end of 2016 and go back to his roots on the dirt track. (Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com)

Tony Stewart didn't have some elaborate scheme or orchestrated plan in mind for when he decided to retire from NASCAR Sprint Cup competition.

There wasn't a perfect laid-out script. Things just fell together, and now Stewart has an opportunity to follow his passion.

It's time for Stewart to have some fun.

That's the plan next season. The three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion will turn in his stock-car helmet and follow his first love, which is spraying dirt in Sprint Car events around the country.

There is no set number of races scheduled for Stewart's 2017 tour, but race fans can count on seeing him plenty.

"The plan is that there isn't a plan yet ... other than knowing we are going to race," said Stewart in an interview with PennLive last Thursday at Grandview Speedway.

"Jimmy Carr and I sat down at Knoxville and started talking about how we need to determine how many races we are going to run and figure out what equipment we need to get ready so we can go.

"We want to sit down over the next couple of weeks and see how many races it's going to be. I'm wanting to run some 360 stuff, but [Jimmy] isn't real crazy about it. We'll see if I get my way on that or not, but we haven't had much luck on the 360 side."

Stewart's always been a guy who says what he wants and does things his own way. It's part of his appeal to the dirt-track crowd.

It's no secret that Stewart has always been partial to his roots. So when the Columbus, Ind., driver had a night off from his NASCAR gig, it was common to see him at the local dirt track.

That changed two years ago when Stewart was involved in an incident that fatally injured Kevin Ward during an Empire Super Sprint Series event in Canandaigua, N.Y.

"My plan was to keep racing on dirt," Stewart said, "but then circumstance happened and I was forced to stop racing.

"So I don't know if retirement was the plan to race dirt. I just knew that I was going to quit racing Cup cars and all along knew I was going to keep running dirt cars."

Stewart will get his chance.

But first, he has some unfinished business. Stewart is in The Chase and has a shot at completing his career with a fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

Stewart missed eight races to start the 2016 season after suffering an injury in an ATV crash in late January. He rebounded to win a race and is 27th in points, which puts him in The Chase.

"We're running good now, and I'm really having fun with those guys on the Cup side," Stewart said. "We're going to be in The Chase, and that's pretty exciting.

"You got to be focused. If you are going to be in The Chase, you need to be in it 100 percent, and that's where I am now."

Continued Stewart, "It was nice to go to Knoxville, but now I'm back [at Bristol] and focused on the weekend. Right now, it's one week at a time."

Before Stewart competed at rainy Bristol last weekend, he took a quick flight to Bechtelsville, Pa., to oversee the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions -- a series he owns -- event at Grandview Speedway.

But it wasn't a typical owner barking out orders and sitting back in the easy chair. Stewart was just one of the guys working the pit area and doing what was needed to pull off an event of this caliber.

"It would have been easy to go to Bristol and get updates on race monitor," Stewart said. "But for me, it's not like a vacation every night.

"This series can run with me not here, but I have a role when I am here. When something doesn't go right, I'm the guy they come and yell at."

That's part of being Tony Stewart the owner and next year, Tony Stewart the part-time dirt-track racer.

And that includes running any All Star Circuit of Champions events Stewart decides to compete in next season.

"I love this so much," Stewart said. "I have a passion about this series and the group of guys that run with us. If I get yelled at every night, I will still be smiling because I feel we are going in the right direction.

"When the schedules come out [for 2017], I'm going to pick and choose where we want to run. But I told our officials that if I'm on the front row of an All Star event and I jump the start or if there is a question I jumped the start, I did it.

"They have to treat it that way. I will be the most scrutinized driver when I run our series, and it has to be that way."