diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Upgrade/StateSystemUpgradePathTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Upgrade/StateSystemUpgradePathTest.php
index ec7a945..4fb1f68 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Upgrade/StateSystemUpgradePathTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/Upgrade/StateSystemUpgradePathTest.php
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ public function testSystemVariableUpgrade() {
       'value' => 'kdm95qppDDlyZrcUOx453YwQqDA4DNmxi4VQcxzFU9M',
       'variable_name' => 'cron_key',
     );
+    $expected_state['tracker.index_nid'] = array(
+      'value' => 0,
+      'variable_name' => 'tracker_index_nid',
+    );
     $expected_state['update.last_check'] = array(
       'value' => 1304208000,
       'variable_name' => 'update_last_check',
diff --git a/core/modules/system/tests/upgrade/drupal-7.state.system.database.php b/core/modules/system/tests/upgrade/drupal-7.state.system.database.php
index 062ee91..a6f47ef 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/tests/upgrade/drupal-7.state.system.database.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/tests/upgrade/drupal-7.state.system.database.php
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@
   ->fields(array('value' => serialize(1352070595)))
   ->execute();
 db_merge('variable')
+  ->key(array('name' => 'tracker_index_nid'))
+  ->fields(array('value' => serialize(0)))
+  ->execute();
+db_merge('variable')
   ->key(array('name' => 'update_last_check'))
   ->fields(array('value' => serialize(1304208000)))
   ->execute();
diff --git a/core/modules/tracker/lib/Drupal/tracker/Tests/TrackerTest.php b/core/modules/tracker/lib/Drupal/tracker/Tests/TrackerTest.php
index 189b927..e858a04 100644
--- a/core/modules/tracker/lib/Drupal/tracker/Tests/TrackerTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/tracker/lib/Drupal/tracker/Tests/TrackerTest.php
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ function testTrackerCronIndexing() {
     $this->drupalPost('comment/reply/' . $nodes[3]->nid, $comment, t('Save'));
 
     // Start indexing backwards from node 3.
-    variable_set('tracker_index_nid', 3);
+    state()->set('tracker.index_nid', 3);
 
     // Clear the current tracker tables and rebuild them.
     db_delete('tracker_node')
diff --git a/core/modules/tracker/tracker.install b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.install
index e30da69..429b88e 100644
--- a/core/modules/tracker/tracker.install
+++ b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.install
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  * Implements hook_uninstall().
  */
 function tracker_uninstall() {
-  variable_del('tracker_index_nid');
+  state()->delete('tracker.index_nid');
 }
 
 /**
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ function tracker_uninstall() {
 function tracker_enable() {
   $max_nid = db_query('SELECT MAX(nid) FROM {node}')->fetchField();
   if ($max_nid != 0) {
-    variable_set('tracker_index_nid', $max_nid);
+    state()->set('tracker.index_nid', $max_nid);
     // To avoid timing out while attempting to do a complete indexing, we
     // simply call our cron job to remove stale records and begin the process.
     tracker_cron();
@@ -152,6 +152,15 @@ function tracker_update_8001() {
 }
 
 /**
- * @} End of "addtogroup updates-7.x-to-8.x".
+ * Convert tracker_index_nid variable to state system.
+ *
+ * @ingroup state_upgrade
+ */
+function tracker_update_8002() {
+  update_variables_to_state(array('tracker_index_nid' => 'tracker.index_nid'));
+}
+
+/**
+ * @} End of "defgroup updates-7.x-to-8.x".
  * The next series of updates should start at 9000.
  */
diff --git a/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
index 92f5701..4f01724 100644
--- a/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
+++ b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
@@ -73,15 +73,16 @@ function tracker_menu() {
 /**
  * Implements hook_cron().
  *
- * Updates tracking information for any items still to be tracked. The variable
- * 'tracker_index_nid' is set to ((the last node ID that was indexed) - 1) and
+ * Updates tracking information for any items still to be tracked. The state
+ * 'tracker.index_nid' is set to ((the last node ID that was indexed) - 1) and
  * used to select the nodes to be processed. If there are no remaining nodes to
- * process, 'tracker_index_nid' will be 0.
+ * process, 'tracker.index_nid' will be 0.
  */
 function tracker_cron() {
-  $max_nid = variable_get('tracker_index_nid', 0);
-  $batch_size = config('tracker.settings')->get('cron_index_limit');
+  $state = state();
+  $max_nid = $state->get('tracker.index_nid') ?: 0;
   if ($max_nid > 0) {
+    $batch_size = config('tracker.settings')->get('cron_index_limit');
     $last_nid = FALSE;
     $result = db_query_range('SELECT nid, uid, status FROM {node} WHERE nid <= :max_nid ORDER BY nid DESC', 0, $batch_size, array(':max_nid' => $max_nid), array('target' => 'slave'));
 
@@ -143,13 +144,13 @@ function tracker_cron() {
 
     if ($last_nid !== FALSE) {
       // Prepare a starting point for the next run.
-      variable_set('tracker_index_nid', $last_nid - 1);
+      $state->set('tracker.index_nid', $last_nid - 1);
 
       watchdog('tracker', 'Indexed %count content items for tracking.', array('%count' => $count));
     }
     else {
       // If all nodes have been indexed, set to zero to skip future cron runs.
-      variable_set('tracker_index_nid', 0);
+      $state->set('tracker.index_nid', 0);
     }
   }
 }