NASCAR team file countersuit against Cup Series rival as court battle intensifies

NASCAR Cup Series team Rick Ware Racing have filed a countersuit against rivals Legacy Motor Club, just months after the Jimmie Johnson-owned team filed a lawsuit against RWR.

In April, LMC sued RWR claiming that the racing team backed out of the sale of one of its charters - teams own a charter to guarantee them entry into a Cup Series points paying season.

RWR owns two NASCAR charters, one of which is Ware’s son, Cody Ware’s No. 36 car and the second of which is the No. 27, which Ware Jr will reportedly race in 2026.

Originally, a court in Charlotte granted LMC a temporary restraining order to prevent RWR from selling or transferring charter No. 27, but this was dissolved in May after the team did not establish the facts and legal elements necessary for a preliminary injunction.

In RWR’s countersuit, the team claims that when LMC approached it to purchase a charter, it was clear the No. 27 car was only for sale for the 2027 racing season.

“Should RWR be forced to sell Charter No. 27 for 2026, it would have no charter under which to race and would go out of business. For this reason, RWR would never have agreed (and unequivocally did not agree) to sell Charter No. 27 in advance of the 2026 season,” Rick Ware Racing said in a recent court filing.

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Why has Rick Ware Racing filed a countersuit?

RWR claims that LMC named Charter No. 27 in their original suit, but the deal was allegedly for No. 36, which could invalidate the lawsuit, with discrepancies over which charter was up for grabs and the year the deal was supposed to take place.

Rick Ware claimed they have tried multiple times to return a non-refundable deposit of $750,000 to the rival team, but LMC refused to accept it. The sale of the charter would be the highest of any that has been sold, with the price placed at $45 million.

The dispute over this charter is at the core of RWR’s argument that the contract is invalid, as there was no “no meeting of the minds” with LMC.

RWR asks that the court declare the agreement invalid and issue an order declaring that LMC does not have a claim to charter No. 36.

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