TOWN OF RUTLAND — No matter the type of car, type of track or type of stakes, Tony Stewart ultimately just wants to race.

And the two-time NASCAR Cup champion makes a point to quench his anytime, anywhere racing thirst by making a dozen or more non-NASCAR appearances each season.

"The great thing about (NASCAR team owner) Joe Gibbs is he lets us race," Stewart said before participating in Tuesday's The Swiss Colony All-Star Challenge at Madison International Speedway. "He knows this is what we want to do. And this is something he was against at first. But I think he understands the importance to us as drivers. We could be getting in all kinds of trouble doing other stuff, but we'd rather go racing."

Stewart, who headlined the 100-lap super late model event along with fellow NASCAR stars Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, estimated that he will take part in 10 to 15 races outside his NASCAR responsibilities this season.

"I don't think when you're out having fun that it's ever too much," said Stewart, who has turned in eighth- and seventh-place finishes in his appearances at MIS the past two years. "We're normally pretty selective about the races we go to and knowing the kinds of drivers we're going to be running with. And this is a good group of drivers. These guys look at it as a feather in their cap if they can beat you. ... I expect them to kick my butt here. For them, it's a good night to get some bragging rights if they can beat the Cup guys."

Busch, the current Sprint Cup Series points leader, will take part in a slightly smaller number of extracurricular races than Stewart this year, while Kenseth estimated he might do as many as five non-NASCAR races.

Busch, who finished third in an ASA Midwest Tour race at MIS in May, said the outside racing he does has not served as a distraction to his NASCAR duties.

"If it was (a distraction), I wouldn't be here. I don't feel like it is," Busch said. "I feel like it's fun."

Kenseth, a Cambridge native, has made a point of coming back to race at various Wisconsin tracks in recent years. This is his seventh stop at MIS since 2003.

"For me it's really fun to come back here," said Kenseth, who has 26 career victories at MIS and was the track's super late model champion in 1994. "I like coming back to Wisconsin. This is where I grew up racing. ... This is where I got my start. This is where I learned how to race, to be able to do the things that I do today. So I like to come back here and even if I am busy, even if we've got other stuff going on, I come back here to have fun. But I also come back here to try to thank everybody for all their support and helping get me where I'm at."

Kenseth, who going into Tuesday night has won three of the six races he's been in at MIS since 2003, still wants to put on a good show. As do Busch and Stewart. And most importantly, all of them want to have a good time doing it.

"You don't go out there and you don't race any different tonight than you do on Sunday. ... You just go out and you race," Stewart said. "And the good thing is we get to race (Tuesday night) and have fun and not worry about points and not worry about doing this or doing that (or) obligations that we have on a Cup weekend.

"We get to come here, have fun, race in front of a crowd we never get to see out on the Cup weekends and do it in an atmosphere that's just back to basics. And back to the basics of having fun and enjoying racing for a night."