Ward Burton

Born: Oct. 25, 1961
Hometown: South Boston, Va.
Marital Status: Married, Tabitha
Children: Sarah, Jeb

First Career Cup race: 1994
Career Cup wins: 5
Career Cup poles: 7
Best Championship finish: 9th - 1999

A native of Danville, Va., Ward Burton began racing karts at age 8. He later drove Street Stock and Late Model Stock Cars on Virginia short tracks, mainly his home track of South Boston Speedway. He was voted most popular driver there in 1989. In 1990 he joined the Busch Series. In 1994 he competed for rookie of the year in Winston Cup, finishing behind his brother.

Burton was last seen in the NEXTEL Cup Series driving the No. 0 NetZero HiSpeed Chevrolet in 2004 before being replaced by Mike Bliss with two events remaining in the season.

In 2002, it seemed at times that Burton was riding a roller-coaster and not his No. 22 Dodge Interpid. After a victory in the Daytona 500 to start the season, Burton struggled to find consistency. Burton would post nine finishes of 30th or worse before winning again at New Hampshire. Following that win, Burton finished 30th or worse seven more times before settling in 25th place in the standings -- his worst finish since he was 24th in 1997.

Burton holds five career Winston Cup victories and has won at least one race in each of the past three seasons. He has earned more than $17 million in his Cup career.

Outside of racing, Burton is involved with wildlife and environmental conservation and has created the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, which purchases parcels of land in an effort to conserve and protect wildlife habitats. The foundation works closely with other wildlife organizations to help with these causes.