NASCAR News: Rick Ware Racing countersues Legacy Motor Club

Rick Ware Racing filed a countersuit against the team that’s suing it over a contract dispute, claiming that Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club falsely claimed it had been sold a racing contract for the 2026 season.

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“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 newly unsealed court filing.

In the countersuit, Rick Ware Racing says that when Legacy approached it to purchase a charter, it was clear it could only sell a charter for the 2027 racing season. Early drafts of the contract between the parties “reflected the importance of RWR having Charter to race under in 2026,” Rick Ware Racing said, including a notice that said Rick Ware intended to race Charter No. 27 in 2026.

In February, there was some confusion between the parties over the charter number, and another purchase draft was sent to Rick Ware that identified Charter No. 36 as the sale charter, which Rick Ware confirmed was correct. The parties signed the agreement, which the racing team said contained “several errors and misstatements of fact” and included references to “2025” that should have been “2026.”

After the agreement was signed, Rick Ware said, Legacy Motor began insisting that the agreement concerned Charter No. 27.

Rick Ware Racing said it has tried multiple times to return a non-refundable deposit of $750,000 that Legacy provided, but Legacy has refused to accept it. The sale itself placed the price of the charter at $45 million, the highest amount for which a charter has ever been sold. Courthouse News