Ward Burton - Cup Career

Cup Career

Burton moved up to Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) in 1994. He ran 26 of 31 races in the #31 Hardee's Chevy for Alan Dillard, Jr., winning his first career pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finishing thirty-fifth in standings. He returned to the #31 ride in 1995 but was released midway through the season. He moved to the #22 Bill Davis Racing MBNA Pontiac after 21 races where he won the AC-Delco 400 at Rockingham.

Caterpillar became the new primary sponsor for the car (His brother Jeff Burton now drives the #31 Caterpillar Chevy) in 1999, where he picked up a ninth-place points finish. In 2000 he won the Mall.com 400 at Darlington Speedway and had 17 Top 10 finishes to finish 10th in the final points standings. Davis Racing switched to Dodge in 2001, when he won the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and had 10 Top 10 finishes to finish 14th in the final points standings. In 2002 he began the season by winning the prestigious Daytona 500. He also won the New England 300 at Loudon, New Hampshire, but due to numerous mechanical failures, he fell to 25th in the standings. 2003 was a season of poorer finishes. He only had 4 Top 10 finishes, and he left Bill Davis Racing with five races left in the season to begin driving the #0 NetZero Chevy for Haas CNC Racing. He finished the season 21st in the final points standings.

In 2004 Burton raced Haas CNC Racing's NetZero HiSpeed #0 car to 3 Top 10 finishes, but was released from the team with two races left in the season. He spent the next two seasons as a free agent. He returned to the Sprint Cup series late in the 2006 season, driving the #4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure Motorsports. His first race was the Subway 500 on October 22, 2006 at Martinsville Speedway. He started in 35th place and finished 26th, the last car on the lead lap. In his next driving opportunity, on November 5, 2006 at Texas Motor Speedway, he started in 37th place and finished 25th. On December 12, 2006 Ward signed with Morgan-McClure Motorsports to drive the #4 car full-time in 2007. In 2007, Ward's performance was lackluster, posting a best place finish of 14. On November 12, 2007, he was released from Morgan-Mcclure Motorsports so that the team could "evaluate performance". Morgan-McClure closed up shop shortly afterward.

Following his release Burton did not officially retire; however, it was not until 2012 that he returned to NASCAR, signing with Hillman Racing to run in the season-opening Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, as well as selected races later in the year as a teammate to his son Jeb.

Burton will join Turner Motorsports as a driver coach for the team starting in 2013, where he will assist with driver development for the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series teams.