Rick Ware Racing

Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series.

History

The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with Rick and his father John Ware competing in the SCCA Series. They raced under the banner "Ware & Sons" as early as the 1960s when Rick went go-kart racing. Once of legal driving age, Rick joined his father John Ware in the SCCA and IMSA Series.

In 1983, Ware & Sons won Rookie of the Year in the California Sports Car Club with Rick behind the wheel. Ware & Sons with Rick as the driver went on to win several titles in that series, as well as the SCCA and IMSA Championship.

After a stint as a driver in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Ware renamed the organization Ware Racing Enterprises in the 1990s and eventually Rick Ware Racing in 2004.

The team's shop was previously located in Thomasville, North Carolina. In 2020, they moved to Mooresville, North Carolina during the two months (March to May) that the series could not race due to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move coincided with RWR buying Premium Motorsports which added their No. 15 car as a fourth full-time car in their stable and needing more space. Before the 2023 season, RWR moved from Mooresville to a shop in Concord, North Carolina on the campus of RFK Racing, which the team began an alliance with in 2023.

NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series

Early years (1998–2012)

In 1998, Rick Ware attempted to qualify a Ware Racing Enterprises Ford in the Winston Cup event at Sears Point Raceway but failed to make the race.

Rick Ware Racing (RWR) had made a handful of attempts in the NASCAR Cup Series beginning in 2004 with Stanton Barrett in the No. 52. In 2005, the organization made attempts with Larry Gunselman, José Luis Ramírez and Derrike Cope. In 2006 Larry Gunselman, Steve Portenga, Donnie Neuenberger and Stanton Barrett in the No. 52 and No. 30 respectively.

In 2007, Barrett attempted to make the Daytona 500 only to miss the race by a single position.

In 2011, Rick Ware Racing allied with the No. 37 Front Row Motorsports/Max Q Motorsports Sprint Cup Team. American Le Mans Series driver Tomy Drissi qualified for the Infineon Cup race, but NASCAR would not approve him for competition; Chris Cook drove the 37 to a 27th-place finish.

For 2012, Rick Ware Racing again allied with Max Q Motorsports to run Timmy Hill for the majority of the season in the No. 37 to vie for Rookie of the Year honors. After Mike Wallace failed to make Daytona, Hill DNQ'd the next race, but qualified in Vegas; he finished 42nd after a crash. When the team missed five races in six attempts, they were outside the top 35 and Ware moved Hill back to Nationwide, ending the partnership.

Full-time (2017–present)

In 2017, Rick Ware Racing came back to the Cup Series with the No. 51 Chevrolet for most of the schedule.

In 2018, Rick Ware Racing ran with all three manufacturers and the team also secured a charter for the No. 51 car. Later in the season, the team fields part-time No. 52 car.

For the 2019 season, Rick Ware Racing dropped Toyota to focus on running Chevrolets and Fords. The No. 51 team was registered as Petty Ware Racing after RWR leased the charter from Richard Petty Motorsports. In addition, RWR secured a full-time schedule for the No. 52 team after purchasing a charter from Front Row Motorsports, who had leased it to the now-defunct TriStar Motorsports. Starting with the 2019 Coca-Cola 600, RWR fielded a third team, the No. 53, on a part-time basis. Starting with the 2019 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, RWR fielded a fourth team, the No. 54, on a part-time basis. On November 27, 2019, NASCAR imposed penalties to Rick Ware Racing, Premium Motorsports, and Spire Motorsports for manipulating their finishing order at Homestead. Each team was docked 50 owners' points and fined 50,000. In addition, competition directors Kenneth Evans of Rick Ware Racing and Scott Eggleston of Premium Motorsports were suspended indefinitely and fined 25,000 each.

For the 2020 season, RWR took a lease of the former charter of Front Row Motorsports' No. 36 team, allowing the No. 53 to run a full-time schedule. On May 13, 2020, Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass confirmed that Rick Ware Racing had purchased Premium Motorsports and their charter for the No. 15 car from former owner Jay Robinson. Rick Ware Racing continued to run the No. 15 full-time for Brennan Poole under the Premium Motorsports name in 2020.

On October 10, 2021, it was reported that RWR was going into an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Yates Engines beginning in 2022 as they will focus on running Fords.

Car No. 15 history

On May 13, 2020, Premium Motorsports was acquired by the organization, along with it, the team's charter for the No. 15, which was piloted by Brennan Poole. However, the 15 still ran under the Premium Motorsports banner. Poole ran all but one race ( the Bristol Night Race, where Poole was replaced by J. J. Yeley) for the rest of the season. Following 2020, Poole left the team.

In 2021, the team would officially be run under the RWR banner. The team announced that 1990 Daytona 500 winner, Derrike Cope, would make his final career start at Daytona 500 in the car. The car was also fielded in a collaboration with Cope's team, StarCom Racing. However, after qualifying, Cope was penalized for electrical issues and failing numerous inspections and his qualifying time was disallowed. Also during the duels, Cope had issues with the car, placing 17th in his duel race, only completing 59 laps out the 63. Cope started 32nd in the race and only ran three laps before crashing on lap four, ending his day. After the 500, the team used multiple drivers for the 15 team through the rest of the season. James Davison made the most starts for the team with 16 starts, and gave the team's best finish with a 22nd-place finish in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville. Dirt racer Chris Windom made his NASCAR Cup Series debut with the team at Bristol Dirt Race, driving the car. However, an engine failure caused Windom to drop out of the race and place the car 33rd. Later in April, Jennifer Jo Cobb was to make her NASCAR Cup debut at the GEICO 500 at Talladega; however, NASCAR announced on April 19 that she would not be approved to run the race. This was likely due to how the race itself would have been her first time in a Cup car because of the lack of practice and qualifying. Joey Gase would drive the car at Las Vegas, Kansas, Nashville, and Daytona. At the fall Las Vegas race, Gase was involved in a scary crash when the car lost a tire and slammed the wall, sending the car airborne. Gase was transported to the hospital and released a few hours later. At the Go Bowling at The Glen, R. C. Enerson would make his NASCAR Cup debut for the team at the race. Enerson would drive the 15 to a 34th-place finish. Bayley Currey drove at Atlanta in July. Ryan Ellis drove at Kansas in October, Ellis received the ride to make amends with the Ware family following a late wreck with Cody Ware would drive the 15 at the Roval event while Joey Hand drove Bilicki’s usual No. 52. Garrett Smithley would then finish out the year in the car. The team placed 35th in the owners points.

The No. 15 started the 2022 season with David Ragan scoring an eighth-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500, the team's highest finish since its acquisition from Premium Motorsports. The car was shared with Smithley, Hand, Yeley, Ryan Preece, and Parker Kligerman. At Michigan, Yeley triggered a massive pileup on lap 25 that took Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch out of contention.

Car No. 15 results

Car No. 51 history

In 2017, Rick Ware Racing came back to the Cup Series with the No. 51 Chevrolet with plans to run the full despite not having a charter. However things did not go according to the plan: Timmy Hill attempted the Daytona 500, but missed the field, the team then had Cody Ware at Atlanta, driving the No. 51 with sponsorship from Spoonful of Music and Bubba Burger. Ware qualified for the race as he started and finished 39th, retiring from the race on lap 74 with steering problems. Hill drove the car in the next seven races until RWR withdrew the 51 at Talladega. the 51 and Hill returned for the next two races at Kansas Speedway, and the Coke 600. Cody Ware returned and did both the Dover and Pocono, Ware's No. 51 acquired sponsorship from East Carolina University and Clemson University, respectively, with the latter also featuring logos celebrating the football team's 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship win earlier in the year. During the Dover race, Ware withdrew from the event after 283 of 406 laps after suffering from back pain. A week later at Pocono, he left the race after completing 35 laps, again for back problems. Ware was going to race at Michigan but he decided to stay out of the car for the race and the team did not find a replacement driver in time, forcing them to miss their third race of the year.
Josh Bilicki joined the team for the race at Sonoma and New Hampshire, while Kyle Weatherman, B. J. McLeod and Ray Black Jr. joined the team for races in the mid-to-late portions of the season. By the end of the year, the team only participated in 29 of the 36 races that season.

On November 22, 2017, it was announced that Black would return to the 51 for a full 2018 season with a charter. The team did not disclose how they had acquired the charter. However, the deal with Black soon fell apart, leaving the 51 open for another driver. Justin Marks drove the No. 51 at the Daytona 500, finishing 12th. The car was fielded in partnership with Premium Motorsports, powered by ECR Engines, and was sponsored by Harry's. Harrison Rhodes joined the team for a one-off the following week at Atlanta to make his Cup debut. A partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing brought Cole Custer to the car the following week at the spring Las Vegas race for his Cup debut. Timmy Hill was brought in for the next two races, finishing 33rd at both the spring Phoenix race and Fontana. Rhodes returned to the car for the next four races. Timmy Hill drove the car at the spring Talladega race. Cody Ware made his first start of the season at the spring Dover race. McLeod drove the car at the spring Kansas race and the 2018 Coca-Cola 600. Custer returned to the No. 51 at the Pocono 400 Chris Cook drove the No. 51 at Sonoma. Jeb Burton drove the No. 51 at the fall Martinsville race.

For the 2019 season, The No. 51 team was registered as Petty Ware Racing after RWR leased the charter from Richard Petty Motorsports. At the 2019 Daytona 500, both RWR cars triggered an unusual crash on lap 159. As several cars were entering pit road, Cody Ware and McLeod collided, sending McLeod to the infield grass and Ware slamming into Tyler Reddick, who inflicted serious damage on Jimmie Johnson's left rear quarter panel. Ware then hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr. from behind before resting on the infield grass, causing Stenhouse to collide with Reddick. McLeod, who drove the 51, finished the race 19th. Andy Seuss joined the team for his Cup debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July.

For the 2020 season, Joey Gase became the primary driver while Garrett Smithley drove the car at three races, James Davison doing four races, and Bilicki returned for the Charlotte Roval. The team finished the season 38th in the points standings.

For the 2021 season, Cody Ware returned as the primary driver for the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet. Smithley returned for two races while J. J. Yeley ran two races and Davison returned for Watkins Glen. The No. 51 finished the season 34th in points. On December 1, RWR lost its lease to the No. 51's charter after GMS Racing purchased a majority stake in Richard Petty Motorsports. The charter was transferred to Petty GMS Motorsports' No. 42 car.

Cody Ware returned to the No. 51 for the 2022 season, using the former No. 52's charter. He scored a career-best 17th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. At Sonoma, the No. 51 failed pre-race inspection four times and was hit with an L1 penalty, resulting in a start at the back of the field and a pass-through penalty on the first lap. In addition, the team was deducted 20 owner and driver points. On August 23, crew chief Billy Plourde was suspended for four races after the No. 51 lost a ballast during the Watkins Glen race. At Texas, Ware survived a hard crash, colliding with the turn 4 wall before violently hitting the pit wall. He sustained an impaction fracture on his ankle from the crash. Ware missed the Charlotte Roval race due to his injury, with J. J. Yeley substituting him in the No. 51.

Car No. 51 results

Car No. 52, 27 history

In 2018, RWR fielded the No. 52 on a partial schedule. The No. 52 car was set to make its debut at the Coca-Cola 600 with B. J. McLeod behind the wheel as Cody Ware was to drive the 51; however, the entry was withdrawn and McLeod was moved to the No. 51 car. The No. 52 instead made its debut with Cody Ware