Folks, Jimmie Johnson has only recently become a majority stake owner at Legacy Motor Club, and he’s already got big plans for his team. It is rare for a team in just their fourth season to start planning to add another charter. But that’s JJ’s plan. We don’t know who’d join Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek, but the seven-time Cup Series champion is eager to make LMC a three-driver team. However, it seems Rick Ware Racing might be standing in its way, and for a very unexpected reason.

LMC has filed a lawsuit against Rick Ware Racing for not honoring their agreement to sell a charter to them. RWR’s got two charters; one is piloted by Rick Ware’s son Cody Ware in the Cup Series and the second one has been leased to RFK Racing for Ryan Preece. Now, we don’t know which one they planned on selling, but LMC’s accusation is that RWR got “cold feet” now. And to which RWR gave a strong response: This is “a misguided attempt to tarnish our reputation.” But if RWR did back out of the deal, we might now know why!

Is all this drama for Corey LaJoie?

Folks, Cody Ware pilots the #51 car full-time for RWR, but Corey Lajoie has made a few part-time appearances for the team this season in the #01 car. First, at the Daytona 500, where he got a P22 finish, and then at Atlanta, where his run ended in a DNF. And for the season, he’s got a couple more starts planned. Well, this is all thanks to Spire Motorsports and the RWR swap from last season. So, Spire sacked LaJoie last season for his poor performance (he got just one top 5) but, for the remainder of the season, swapped him with RWR’s Justin Haley. And while many thought RWR would sign Corey LaJoie full-time for the 2025 season, they did not.

However, the rumors are that Corey LaJoie’s not one to be satisfied with a part-time entry and is probably causing all this legal drama. This is what NASCAR insider Daniel DiOrio, aka Spider, revealed on the Rubin is Racing podcast. He said, “It’s been brought to my attention privately that Corey LaJoie is trying to secure his own charter or some sort of ownership stake in a team, whether that’ll be partial or looking for investors to help him do it with him. And he wants to get back to driving in the Cup Series.”

Well, from Corey Lajoie’s point of view, it does make sense. The former full-time Cup Series driver has highlighted his preference for riding in the Cup Series over any other, so it’s no surprise to see him push for this charter for himself. “I would rather finish 20th in a Cup Series race on Sundays than compete in the Xfinity or Truck Series,” Lajoie told Bob Pockrass in February 2025. These comments came after Lajoie was without a full-time ride for the 2025 season and is currently set to be an analyst on Amazon Prime Video for their six-race schedule this season.

Well, if all this is true, it is still unclear if RWR would take back the RFK Racing charter and put Corey LaJoie in full-time next season. Or is some other team buying that charter to get LaJoie in? Or a third distant possibility of LaJoie starting his only team? Otherwise, RWR going back on their word to LMC doesn’t make sense.

RWR could still run as a one-driver team while getting good money for a charter that they sell. And according to JJ, a charter costs almost $40 million now. That’s a good some for a backmarker team. And this is also what LMC claimed: that RWR is “strapped for cash, and unable to compete at a Cup Series level by its own admission,” and hence, “RWR needed to sell one of its charters.”

But if this LaJoie thing is true, that might make more sense long term for the team. Maybe LaJoie was able to convince some big-name investors to back him.“I don’t see why Rick Ware would be reluctant and open themselves up to another lawsuit again… To me, it seems like there might have been something there, whether they found secure funding for this potential ownership. Corey LaJoie might now have an opportunity to be back in the Cup Series by way of Rick Ware Racing. And they might have spoken too soon with Legacy about their willingness to part that charter in question,” Spider added. Whatever it is, this lawsuit is going to change a lot of things.

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What are the possible implications of the lawsuit?

So, LMC, in their filing, said, “Despite having a binding deal in place, RWR wants to back out. It has told Legacy that it will not, under any circumstances, close the parties’ transaction. Legacy has tried to talk sense into RWR, to no avail. Legacy’s patience has run out. It now brings this suit to enforce its rights and hold RWR to its deal.”

RWR had a strong response: “RWR has negotiated in good faith and operated with the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. We are confident that the truth will prevail and look forward to swiftly resolving this matter through the proper legal channels.”  Now the question is, who will win this thing? If RWR wins, LaJoie could get back into NASCAR full-time. And this would give RWR a whole next season to decide what they want to do with the charter.

They are claiming that the deal with LMC was supposed to go down in 2027, but LMC is saying that they agreed on 2026 as the date of transfer. This is the whole confusion. Look, RWR has been running in the Cup Series since 2017, making 639 starts so far, and clearly, they haven’t found their footing yet, with zero Cup Series wins to their credit. So maybe they could focus their efforts elsewhere by selling this charter in ’27.

They have a Top Fuel Dragster team piloted by Clay Millican. And they are doing well there. In fact, he won the recent race at the Pomona Dragstrip. This is the same race where Tony Stewart was the runner-up. Anyway, the point is they could unburden themselves of Cup duties and grow at their other motorsport programs, be it IndyCar, Sports Car, or some others. But this means LMC would have to run another season being just a two-driver team. Something JJ, who’s trying to fast-track their progress, doesn’t want.

And if RWR loses the lawsuit, they would be left with just one charter in the next season. And this would leave RWR with two options: either retain their charter from RFK or sell that one too and exit the sport. So, there is a possibility that this might be Rick Ware Racing’s final NASCAR season. This would allow LMC to put a third full-time driver in the series. Maybe Kaz Grala? Since he is their developmental driver.

What do you think about this, folks? What should RWR do? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.