The legal drama surrounding one of NASCAR’s most valuable assets—a Cup Series charter—intensified this week when Rick Ware Racing (RWR) filed a countersuit against Legacy Motor Club, claiming Legacy is falsely asserting ownership of Charter No. 27 for the 2026 season.
At the heart of the issue is a signed agreement between the two teams regarding the sale of a charter. But RWR says Legacy misunderstood—or misrepresented—what was actually being sold.
“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,” the team stated in a court filing. “For this reason, RWR would never have agreed (and unequivocally did not agree) to sell Charter No. 27 in advance of the 2026 season.”
According to RWR, the team made it clear in early negotiations that any charter sale would apply to the 2027 season—not 2026. The team emphasized it still needed Charter No. 27 to run its 2026 Cup campaign. Early drafts of the agreement even included language confirming RWR’s intent to race with that charter through the end of 2026.
But things got messy.
In February, while ironing out details, both sides agreed the sale would involve Charter No. 36, not No. 27. A new draft was sent over reflecting that update, and RWR signed it—though they now say the document was riddled with clerical errors, including references to “2025” instead of “2026.”
Once the deal was signed, Legacy allegedly began insisting that the sale applied to Charter No. 27 after all, not No. 36.
In response, RWR has tried several times to return the non-refundable $750,000 deposit Legacy put down. But Legacy has refused to accept it, and now both sides are heading for a courtroom showdown. The charter in question was priced at $45 million—an all-time record for a NASCAR charter sale.
If RWR is forced to give up Charter No. 27 early, the team says it could be pushed out of the sport entirely.