UPDATE 2 7-16-2025: After suing Rick Ware Racing for allegedly backtracking on a signed contract to sell a charter to Legacy for 2026, RWR has since countersued Legacy. While Legacy claims they have a signed Charter Purchase Agreement for a 2026 charter, RWR claims they are trying to take a charter other than the one originally agreed upon.
And while this is unfolding, a report from the Associated Press has emerged, saying that T.J. Puchyr had entered into an agreement to purchase all of Rick Ware Racing.
In this latest suit, they claim Puchyr is wrongfully interfering with Legacy’s attempt to purchase a charter from RWR. This comes after Judge Daniel A. Kuehnert warned RWR that they could face “serious ramifications” if they tried to sell, despite previously indicating in court that they had no such plans.
Legacy revealed in a filing this week that Puchyr was actually working with the team as an “Independent Contractor Agreement” through his consulting firm, Rucus. They also say he had direct knowledge of their purchase agreement with RWR as he helped to broker it before making his own offer to buy the race team in the midst of this charter dispute.
— Motorsport —
UPDATE 7-15-2025: A Charlotte judge weighed concerns Monday that Rick Ware Racing may sell charter agreements while in the middle of a legal case over their ownership.
There could be “really serious ramifications,” Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Kuehnert warned, if Rick Ware Racing sells its two charter agreements after having told the court it had no plan to do so. A previous judge in the case decided not to issue an order preventing Rick Ware Racing from selling or transferring the charters based on their representations that they would be static during legal proceedings.
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…Rick Ware reportedly agreed last month to sell the company to T.J. Puchyr, one of the founders of Spire Motorsports who helped to negotiate the charter sale between Rick Ware Racing and Legacy.
He isn’t afraid of holding counsel in contempt, Kuehnert said, ordering Rick Ware Racing to comply with a deposition over its rumored sale. Counsel for Legacy raised alarms that if a deposition obtaining information about the potential transfer was not held this week, that Rick Ware Racing may expedite the sale of the charters before Legacy gets a chance to prevent it from happening.
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“If Mr. Puchyr is saying in public that Charter 27 and 36 have been sold or are in the process of being sold, that’s a big deal,” Kuehnert said. “Especially when there’s been representations made to the court that there’s no way this stuff is going to be sold. That’s very troubling, I think to any judge.”
— Courthouse News —
ORIGINAL POST 7-14-2025: Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a short virtual hearing in a North Carolina court over their fight for a charter.
Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026. RWR contends the agreement was for 2027 and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.
Legacy on Monday asked for and was granted the right to depose RWR over the recent revelation that T.J. Puchyr, one of the founders of Spire Motorsports, plans to purchase the race team. Legacy contends if Ware is selling the team, then one of the charters should be transferred to its organization.
Legacy also argued that Ware did not disclose he was entering into a sales agreement with a third party — Puchyr, who is now a consultant and brokered the initial lease deal between RWR and Legacy — in an April hearing. The judge in that case warned that RWR could be in contempt of court if it misrepresented its intentions in the first hearing.
— Associated Press —