Ward Burton celebrates winning the Southern 500 in 2001.

Burton regrets missing final Southern 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ward Burton practically grew up at Darlington Raceway. He's watched races at the venerable oval since he was a child, traveling from his boyhood home in South Boston, Va., to South Carolina with his father and brothers.

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He's had success there as a driver, winning Darlington's spring race in 2000 and the 2001 Southern 500. Burton's track qualifying record at the tricky oval survived another day when qualifying was rained out Friday.

But Burton was heartbroken Friday that he won't be among the 43-man starting field in Sunday's Southern 500.

Ward's 11-year Nextel Cup racing career was thrown into a flux when team owner Gene Haas released the driver from his contract earlier this week.

Friday, as Nextel Cup cars practiced several hours to the south at Darlington, Burton sat in his office in Virginia and spoke reverently of his early days at Darlington.

"I can remember the first time going to Darlington, years and years ago," Burton said. "I was pulling for Bobby Allison; my middle brother Brian was pulling for Buddy Baker; Jeff, Cale Yarborough; and dad, Richard Petty."

Road trips back home to South Boston must have been contentious during the five-year period when one of their four heroes won each of 10 Darlington races.

Ward Burton

"We just had a lot of fun doing it," Burton said. "Dad would let us take our buddies and we were always up to some kind of no-good."

When Ward and Jeff fashioned Late Model careers into Busch Series and, ultimately, Nextel Cup Series careers, Darlington remained a cornerstone for both brothers.

Together they had four victories in the six races between 1999 and 2001, one each in the spring and fall. Ward's track record lap came in qualifying for the 1996 spring race.

"Darlington had some fresh pavement that day and the car had a helluva lot of grip," Burton said. "It was with MBNA colors (on Bill Davis' Pontiac) and we were just on a rail."

Burton said he might look more fondly at that mark at some point in the future, but now's not the time.

"Record books and all that stuff don't mean the world to me," Burton said. "It's the relationships you've built and the things you've been able to accomplish. What a record book may say about me, I'd love to reflect on one day, but at this moment, that's not where a lot of my interest is at, obviously."

As far as Darlington is concerned, Ward's only regret now is that his prime could have been even better.

"Being able to do well at Darlington over the years, and particularly a three- or four-year stretch there where, heck, I should have won two or three more races," Burton said. "Weather got me twice, but (Darlington's) always been a special place."

Since his dismissal from Haas CNC, Burton's had a lot of time to think about the latest turn of events. Friday brought a slightly different twist to his mindset, though.

Credit: Autostock

"I guess at the end of the day, particularly today being Friday with cars on the racetrack there, it's kind of come home a little bit more to me," Burton said of his first absence from a Cup race at Darlington since 1993. "I've got a lot of feelings of anger, mistreatment... (but) at the same time there's nothing I can do about it.

"What has transpired is out of my control, but it does hurt. At the same time, life will go on."

And so will the final Southern 500 -- an event in which Ward has three top-five and five top-10 finishes. His youngest brother, Jeff, knows what Ward is feeling.

"Every year, every race that we get ready to go to Darlington, I get pumped up," Jeff said. "I think Darlington is one of the special places in our sport (because) when you look at history and the heritage of our sport, the things that have gone on in our sport, Darlington fits really, really tightly in there."

Ward spoke Friday of the respect and appreciation he has for all the fans and supporters he's garnered in a NASCAR racing career of more than 15 years. And he said he had an acceptable alternative plan for this weekend.

"For the time being I'm going to go have some fun this weekend with my brother, a couple friends and my son, Jeb."