Legal Battle in NASCAR: Legacy Motor Club Blocks Rick Ware’s Team Sale
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A North Carolina judge has granted a preliminary injunction to Legacy Motor Club, preventing Rick Ware from selling his NASCAR team amid a dispute over one of his participation permits.Earlier this year, Legacy and Rick Ware Racing agreed that Ware would sell one of its two Cup Series charters, similar to franchises in other sports, to Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson. A charter guarantees a car’s entry into all 38 NASCAR races and determines how a team is paid.
Johnson and Legacy sought permission to expand to three entries and agreed to pay Ware $45 million for one of his two. Currently, Ware uses one of them for his own team, while the other is leased to RFK Racing for 2025. Ware already had an agreement with RFK to exchange permits in 2026 under another lease agreement. He stated that, due to that existing agreement, he agreed to sell Legacy a permit in 2027. Legacy sued, arguing that Ware signed a contract for a sale in 2026, a deal that would essentially put him out of business, as he had already promised a permit to RFK. Meanwhile, Ware reached an agreement with the broker who negotiated the permit deal with Legacy for the broker to buy all of his NASCAR equipment for $150 million. However, Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Clifton Smith issued a restraining order on Friday that prevents Ware from selling the organization to T.J. Puchyr, co-founder of Spire Motorsports and now a motorsports consultant. Puchyr was the one who negotiated the sale agreement for the disputed permit. Smith’s order extends a previous temporary restraining order that had paused the sale. Smith ruled that Legacy demonstrated the likelihood of success on the merits of its case, that it was likely to suffer irreparable loss 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.
