Ward Burton was born 25 October 1961 in Danville, Virginia and started racing go-karts at age 8. He joined the Virginia Karting Association and raced there until age 16. At this time, Burton left racing to attend Hargrave Military Academy and became a First Lieutenant. He also ranked first on the schools rifle team. In 1979, Ward Burton graduated and started atteneding Elon College. After his second year of college, he decided to change his life and left college to work for his father's construction company.
It was during this section of his life he started attending the races his brother was competing in. At one of these races, Ward Burton was offered the chance to race in a mini-stock car and then later was offered a chance to drive in a street stock ride.
In 1985, Burton started competing in street stock full time at South Boston Speedway. After being very successful he moved up to late model racing in 1986. While he was racing full-time, it was more of a hobby/second job as it was not supporting him; he still worked for his father's construction company.
Burton got his break when he moved up to the Nascar Busch Series including four victories. Along with those victories, he had 31 top-10 finishes in 111 starts.
In 1994, Burton joined the A.G. Dillard Racing team, a group that provided rides for Nascar Winston Cup racing, until mid-season when Bill Davis Racing offered him a ride. To this day he is with Bill Davis and crew. In 1999, he had his best season point wise finishing ninth. However, this year maybe better. Burton was the winner of New England 300 and the Daytona 500.
Information for this node was taken from www.nascar.com, www.wardburton.com, and www.billdavisracing.com