Judge Halts Sale of Rick Ware Racing NASCAR Team at Legacy Motor Club’s Request
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A North Carolina judge issued a preliminary injunction on Friday in favor of Legacy Motor Club, preventing Rick Ware from selling his NASCAR team. The dispute centers on one of Ware’s participation rights.
At the beginning of this year, Legacy and Rick Ware Racing agreed that Ware would sell one of its two NASCAR Cup Series charter. These charters are similar to franchises in other sports and guarantee a car’s entry into all 38 NASCAR races, as well as influencing the team’s financial compensation.
Jimmie Johnson, owner of Legacy and seven-time NASCAR champion, wished to acquire the right to expand his team to three cars and agreed to pay Ware $45 million for one of his two rights. Currently, Ware uses one of them for his own team and the other is leased to RFK Racing for 2025.
Ware already had an agreement with RFK to exchange participation rights in 2026, under another lease agreement. Ware argued that, because of that agreement, he agreed to sell Legacy a right in 2027.
Legacy filed a lawsuit, alleging that Ware signed a contract for a sale in 2026, which would effectively put him out of business, given that he had already promised a right to RFK. Meanwhile, Ware reached an agreement with the agent who negotiated the rights deal with Legacy for the latter to buy all of his NASCAR equipment for $150 million.
However, Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Clifton Smith granted an injunction to Legacy on Friday, preventing Ware from selling the organization to T.J. Puchyr, co-founder of Spire Motorsports and currently a motorsports consultant. Puchyr was the intermediary in the sale agreement of the disputed right.
Smith’s order extends a previous temporary restraining order that had suspended the sale. Smith ruled that Legacy demonstrated the likelihood of success in the case, that it would likely suffer irreparable losses unless an injunction was issued, and that the potential harm to Legacy outweighed any potential harm to Ware.
Smith maintained the $5 million bail that Legacy had posted.
The trial is scheduled for January, but Legacy has filed a second lawsuit against Puchyr for interfering with its agreement with Ware. Legacy has also terminated its consulting agreement with Puchyr.
