Burton will test in December and January in the No. 55 car while Brian Vickers continues treatment for blood clots.

Burton, who has 21 career Cup wins in 691 starts, will drive the No. 66 car for MWR in the March 9 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 66 car also will compete in the Daytona 500 with team co-owner Michael Waltrip behind the wheel.

The No. 66 car will run on a part-time basis with any additional races to be determined. No sponsorship was announced Monday for the team co-owned by Waltrip and Rob Kauffman.

“I’ve heard all good things from the drivers who raced at MWR over the last couple of years and I certainly have seen how fast their cars have been,” Burton said in a news release.

“These are great people who have dedicated themselves to become winners at the highest level. Michael and Rob are so committed to success and I wanted to be a part of that. I’m excited to do something new and will work hard to help the other two teams compete for wins and a championship.”

MWR, which fields full-time cars for Vickers and Clint Bowyer, had to drop one of its full-time teams after NAPA pulled its sponsorship from the team in reaction to MWR’s role in manipulating the finish of the Sept. 7 race at Richmond International Raceway. NASCAR booted Truex from the Chase and fined MWR a record $300,000 after it determined that the team tried to manipulate the race to get Truex into the Chase.

Truex was released from the team and will drive for Furniture Row Racing next season.

Burton, 46, agreed to leave Richard Childress Racing after this season with one year left on his contract. The team was unable to find enough sponsorship for Burton to continue next season. RCR hired Ryan Newman to replace him in its No. 31 car.


PETTY HIRES NEPHEW AS CREW CHIEF


Trent Owens, a longtime Nationwide Series crew chief and a nephew of Richard Petty, will get his first full-time crew chief job in the Sprint Cup Series as he will direct the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 team for Aric Almirola in 2014.

The 38-year-old Owens, who has worked at Braun Racing and Turner Scott Motorsports with Kyle Larson being his most recent driver, replaces Todd Parrott, who was fired in October after being suspended by NASCAR in violation of its substance-abuse policy.

Owens has five Nationwide victories with five different drivers.

Almirola was 18th in the 2013 Sprint Cup standings with one top-five and six top-10 finishes.

Contributor: Bob Pockrass

PHOTOS: Jeff Burton among most respected drivers