This weekend at Martinsville, Ward Burton will hope that his presence re-energizes his once successful career.
At Rockingham, in the fall of 1995, Ward Burton won his first career Winston Cup race driving for Bill Davis Racing. Burton was only 34 years old, and in 1995, 34 was considered 'young gun' status.
It appeared that Burton was about to embark on a vastly successful career. Instead, his little brother Jeff got the ride with Roush Racing and became the Burton family star. Meanwhile, Ward struggled over the next three seasons. Finally, in the spring of 2000 at Darlington Raceway, the elder Burton brother won his second career Cup race in dominating fashion. Ward finished in the top ten in the Winston Cup standings for the second consecutive season, and it appeared that the South Boston, Virginia native was geared up for a championship run in 2001.
Ward's team switched from Pontiac to Dodge, which apparently through the 22 team for a loop. Other than his win at Darlington in September, the 2001 season was a flop.
In 2002, Ward won the Daytona 500, and things appeared to be heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, Ward limped through the remainder of the season, and despite stealing a win at New Hampshire in July, he finished the season 25th in the final championship standings.
A year later, Dodge abruptly took away their factory support from Bill Davis Racing, which severely downgraded the team's resources. And before the season's conclusion, Ward Burton was relieved of his driving duties. He joined the single car effort at Haas/CNC Racing, but that correlation never blossomed, and he was released with just two races remaining in the 2004 season.
Since his acrimonious breakup with Gene Haas, Ward has been nothing more than a spectator for all NASCAR sanctioned events. He has turned down multiple opportunities in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series with the aspirations of returning to Nextel Cup in a competitive ride.
Obviously, things have not have not worked out the way he envisioned. Last year, Ward was in the rumor mill incessantly. Reports had him joining his brother at Richard Childress Racing, other reports had him going to Evernham Motorsports. He was rumored to take over the 11 ride at Joe Gibbs Racing, or the 21 ride with the Wood Brothers, and supposedly he nearly signed with the newly formed Hall Of Fame Racing.
This season, he has been one of the lead candidates to replace Dale Jarrett in the 88 Robert Yates Racing ride, but due to his age, lack of marketability, and the team's lack of sponsorship, that deal may just become a pipe dream.
Reality has set in and Ward no longer desires to sit on the sidelines. He will make his much anticipated return to NASCAR's highest level of competition, with a third tier team. Morgan-McClure Motorsports failed to grow along with NASCAR, therefore, for the past five or six seasons, they have lost sponsorship, and have cycled through a number of drivers- Mike Skinner, Kevin Lepage, Robby Gordon, Johnny Sauter, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Wallace, Todd Bodine, and Scott Wimmer just to name a few.
Ward will get his opportunity to race again in Nextel Cup, but he will not be able to show his full potential driving for Morgan-McClure. And if you look at the above list of former Morgan-McClure drivers, only Robby Gordon has a full-time ride, that he owns. So Ward still has his work cut out for him.
