Rick Ware Racing was “strapped for cash, and unable to compete at a Cup Series level by its own admission.” These words, included in the Legacy MC lawsuit, ticked off a NASCAR veteran. After nearly three decades of waving his Cup Series team banner, Rick Ware decided to sell a charter this year. seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s team is supposed to be the recipient. However, a disagreement about the timeline has now resulted in a lawsuit. At this time, Ware received support from an old friend – Tommy Baldwin.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour veteran team owner has known Rick Ware for a while now. In 2023, Ware tapped Tommy Baldwin’s talents as a former crew chief, naming him as the competition director for his team. Now, Baldwin revealed that their bond ran deeper than that by trying to defend Ware in the Legacy MC lawsuit.

The Legacy MC lawsuit hides Ware’s resilience

Without a doubt, NASCAR is a mightily expensive sport. Drivers earn upward of millions by winning races and titles. And an equally wealthy input goes into maintaining their race cars. This has always put smaller and fledgling teams in a tight spot. Rick Ware Racing has competed mostly part-time since 1998. However, from 2020 onwards, they decided to go full-time. By 2020, the charter system was already in place, and despite some charters fetching up to $40 million, Ware still chose not to make quick profits by selling off his enterprise. He persevered in trying to make his team stick in a competitive environment. So when the Legacy MC lawsuit claimed that Ware’s lifelong effort was going to shutter anyway, Tommy Baldwin heavily protested.

Tommy Baldwin Racing used to be a Cup Series effort for 8 years until 2016, when Baldwin decided to sell off his team’s charter. The 2002 Daytona 500-winning crew chief hailed Rick Ware for having the guts to continue despite poor race finishes. Baldwin said so on a recent ‘Door, Bumper Clear’ episode: “Shame on me for not having the b—- he had, not waiting to sell mine. I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I couldn’t deal with the political mess…the people. I couldn’t deal with people screwing me all the time… This guy has survived it this whole time, and I don’t know how he has done it. He’s just in the background, doing his business, setting himself up and his family to live the rest of their life comfortably.”

In the 46-page filing of the Legacy MC lawsuit, the language was tense. Over so many seasons, Rick Ware’s team has never been able to clinch a Cup Series victory. Currently, the only RWR Cup Series entry driven by Rick Ware’s son, Cody Ware, stands last in the championship standings. Jimmie Johnson‘s team rubbed salt in their wounds by comparing their results. “At the exact same time that Legacy has charted a path forward, RWR has flagged and flailed in the rear.” This infuriated Tommy Baldwin even more.

Baldwin had helped RWR enjoy one of its best seasons in 2023, watching JJ Yeley fetch a 7th-place finish in Atlanta. Last year, Justin Haley fetched 3 top-tens under the team. So Baldwin bashed Johnson’s lawsuit language: “The thing that hurts is that they’ve come out and said a lot of bad things about Rick Ware…You can say all you want about what goes on at the track and on the track…but I can tell you Rick Ware is not any one of those things as a person, as an individual, as a father, as a family member as what they’re making him out to be.”

Tommy Baldwin’s respect for Rick Ware is genuine, as he has witnessed Ware’s golden side as an individual. That was when the former was dealing with a life-and-death situation.

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Giving help when it is most needed

In early 2023, Tommy Baldwin received news that crashed down on his life – he was diagnosed with cancer. The treatments involved eight rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation. By the time the symptoms died down, he had lost almost 60 pounds and most of his stamina. As chemo and radiation weakened his body, Baldwin felt weaker. But what kept his spirits up were the precious NASCAR colleagues who helped breathe new life into him. With the Legacy MC lawsuit ongoing, Baldwin pointed out how Rick Ware was one of those people. “I was sick, and I was hurting with cancer for six to eight months, and that man took care of me. That man paid me. That man is Rick Ware.”

Thus Tommy Baldwin’s heartfelt support for Rick Ware in this legal crisis makes perfect sense. Besides helping him in a life-and-death situation, Ware also paid tribute to Baldwin’s Cup Series legacy. Between 1999 and 2002, Baldwin was the crew chief for Ward Burton under Bill Davis Racing. The duo clinched four spectacular victories together, including crown jewel events like the Southern 500.

So Rick Ware’s son Cody sported colors of their glory on his No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford for the Darlington race last weekend. Baldwin beamed with pride as he said the throwback scheme triggered his favorite memories. “When I first saw the rendering of our throwback paint scheme, I started to remember that whole Southern 500 weekend and all that went into it.”

Evidently, Rick Ware’s side is heavier than Jimmie Johnson may have presumed. As the Legacy MC lawsuit goes on, let us see where it lands Ware’s legacy.