Burton would welcome Stewart at RCR

Burton spoke highly of Stewart, saying he would be a great asset to RCR if he were to join the team. However, he believes the chances of that happening are somewhat slim right now.

"Tony's ability speaks for itself," Burton said. "He's a great race car driver. It's a long 18 months between now and [the end of his contract]. It's pretty interesting to me, he would be an awesome teammate. He would be an incredible teammate.

"He would bring talent. He would bring enthusiasm. He would bring all those things, but chances of that working out are probably pretty slim when you look at how it would all lay out.

"I think any team in here would love to have Tony Stewart. When you have a driver of that calibre raise his hand and say I'm willing to look at other opportunities, he's going to get a lot of phone calls because people like him with that talent, they don't grow on trees.

"He would be an extremely hot commodity in this garage, there's no question."

Burton's teammate Kevin Harvick preferred to remain neutral about the possibility of Stewart joining the team, although he admitted he would like to see him drive a Chevrolet again.

"I am here to be Tony's friend," Harvick said. "Whether he would drive at Joe Gibbs Racing or at RCR in the fourth car or own his own team doesn't really matter to me. Tony is one of my best friends and I want to be a sounding board if he is going to do something and don't want to be politicking to get him to do one thing or another.

"I want to be his friend and help him through the process. It is no different than any of the rest of us. I want him to make the right decision for himself. I am all for seeing him in a Chevrolet; Tony is an American guy, so I think that would be good for everybody."

Stewart has only driven one race for Richard Childress Racing in the past, competing at Fontana in the Nationwide Series in 2004.