Now the South Boston native just wants to be a contender.

Burton survived an early punch in the nose Sunday in the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, but the 44-year-old got off the deck to finish on the lead lap in 26th place in his first Nextel Cup race in two years.

Driving the Abingdon-based Morgan-McClure Chevrolet, Burton sustained front-end damage on the first lap when he rear-ended Michael Waltrip’s Dodge. Burton eventually went two laps down, but regained both thanks to NASCAR’s “lucky dog” rule and finished on the same lap as race winner Jimmie Johnson.

“I had a ball,” Burton said. “It was just like I’d never been absent. I’m sorry we got the nose torn up, but I drove with everything I was worth. I’m elated to come out of here to finish in the lead lap.”

Burton lingered in the red and white No. 4 car for several minutes before popping out the window at the team’s hauler in the infield. Car owner Larry McClure — a Chilhowie native — promised that he will put Burton back in the driver’s seat in at least one of the four remaining Cup races, possibly in two weeks in Texas.

“Yes we are,” McClure said. “Not for every race, but he’s going to be back in the car this year. What we’re doing now is trying to get prepared for the next year. There’s a lot of details to be worked out, and if we get those worked out he’s certainly a contender for this car next year.”

McClure knows something about success. From 1990-98 his cars driven by Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton won 14 Cup races including three wins at Daytona.

However, since 2001 the Abingdon team has posted just two top-five finishes with 16 different drivers behind the wheel. Scott Wimmer, who had just three top-20 finishes and placed on the lead lap just six times, was in the car until he was replaced last week in Charlotte by Todd Bodine.

Morgan-McClure hasn’t used the same driver throughout an entire season since Hamilton started 34 races in 2000.

“We’ve just got to get the job done,” McClure said. “I mean, it’s a competitive sport and it’s no different from having a quarterback or whatever. You’ve got to put the best guy in there and right now we’re tying to find the best guy.”

McClure gave Burton more than a passing grade.

“He did a hell of a job,” McClure said. “It’s great being competitive. For good portions today we were running like the top 10 were running, even in traffic, a lot of traffic. It was great. It was good to have Ward. It was good to have a racer in the car…looking forward to something in the future.”

Morgan-McClure once had major sponsorship from Kodak and now carries the logo of Lucas Oil. McClure said financing will not be a concern in 2007.

“We got the money to go with the car,” he said. “We’re going to have it next year. We’re looking forward to getting back to being competitive, at least. Lucas will be one of the players. We’ll have an announcement within two weeks.”

Burton overcame his early misfortune, which included a penalty for pitting too soon that put him at the back of the field. Then on lap 223 he spun in Turn 2 after he said David Gilliland’s Ford bounced off the inside curb and collided with his machine. Burton spent the rest of the day trying not to fry his brakes.

“I don’t know what happened at the start up there where everybody checked up,” he said. “We got into Michael. I thought that was the end of our day. Everybody kept working. Nobody gave up. I felt great at the end of the race. I think it could have possibly been a little bit better but some of those guys had tires at the end. I just didn’t have new tires on.

“We’ll take that. We finished in one piece. They really did a good job of getting my creature comfort stuff right this week. I had fun, man. That’s what it’s all about.”

Veteran crew chief Chris Carrier, who once worked with Harry Gant’s grand national team, enjoyed working with Burton.

“He’s good,” Carrier said. “The more he ran, the better he got, the smoother he got. He’s a lot of fun to be around.”

Burton had a better day than his brother, Jeff, who entered the 500-lap race as the Cup points leader but dropped to fifth after finishing 42nd. The Burton brothers had adjoining pit stalls between Turns 3 and 4.

“Big picture…disappointing day for them, but what an awesome season they’ve had. I was definitely going to make sure I didn’t cause Jeff a problem.”