CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) One of the founders of Spire Motorsports has entered an agreement to purchase the NASCAR team owned by Rick Ware and is jumping back into the stock car series because he believes the current charters are grossly undervalued.

T.J. Puchyr, who in 2018 alongside Jeff Dickerson launched the Spire team to take over the charter that Furniture Row Racing could not unload, told The Associated Press on Thursday he and Rick Ware Racing have a deal for him to take over Wares organization next season.

When Puchyr and Dickerson bought the Furniture Row charter, the market for NASCARs version of franchise models was essentially dead. Their agency had been hired by Furniture Row owner Barney Visser to sell the charter and when they couldnt find a buyer, the two decided to purchase it themselves for $6 million and launch their own team.

That decision jump-started the charter market and the most recent charters sold when Stewart-Haas Racing went out of business at the end of last season went for approximately $30 million. Puchyr and Dickerson are largely credited with pumping life and value into an otherwise dormant charter system.

Puchyr last year sold his shares of Spire to Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports and head of the new Cadillac F1 team. Puchyr has spent 2025 consulting with various teams, including RWR and Legacy Motor Club. Hes watched the market closely and has attended several of the recent court hearings involving NASCAR against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, who have filed an antitrust lawsuit over the charter agreement those two teams refused to sign last September.

There are only 36 Cup Series charters, which guarantee a team entry into every NASCAR race and a steady revenue stream. Puchyr believes they are greatly undervalued and in one of his final deals with Spire, he helped acquire a charter from Live Fast Motorsports for $40 million.

I am bullish on wanting to build a three-car team. I believe in the France family and the direction of the sport and I want the rest of the shareholders and industry to know that I believe the charters are worth $75 million or more, he told AP.

What about Wares second charter?

In his deal with Ware, Puchyr will keep Ware on board as a partner, also keep Wares son, Cody, in the No. 51 Ford, and retain all of the current RWR employees. Wares current second charter is leased to RFK Racing, but Legacy Motor Club made a legal claim that it had entered an agreement to buy that charter next season.

A judge did not agree with Legacy, and said Ware has a lease deal with RFK for 2026 on a second charter. Puchyr believes none of the parties can perform to the Legacy-RWR contract which he said was written by Legacy and there is no charter available from Ware for Legacy for either lease or purchase in 2026. Ware has filed a countersuit against Legacy.

Legacy, a two-car Cup team, is currently owned by seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson. He has recently taken on partnership from private equity firm Knighthead Capital Management, which alongside Johnson is exploring expansion into several other motorsports series.

If anybody deserves a pass it is Jimmie and if he wants to sit down and talk about it like men, Id entertain the conversation, said Puchyr, who was offended that Legacy sued Ware.

I dont think Jimmie has all the facts, doesnt understand the deal we had, and they tried to humiliate Rick publicly. We dont do business that way.

Now, Puchyr and Ware are confident the second charter currently leased to RFK will be returned to their team in 2027, allowing Puchyr to expand the organization. He wants to buy a third charter that makes the organization a three-car Cup team by 2027.

Can Puchyr build a winning team?

Ware has done the second-most charter transactions in the industry only to Spire and at one point held four. Now hes trying to rebuild his organization and win races with his son as the driver, something Puchyr wants to help him achieve.

Ive won at everything Ive done at every level and I think we can compete with these guys, Puchyr said. I think we can build it brick-by-brick and its going to take people, money and time. Its not lost on me that (RWR) is the 36th-place car in the garage, we all see it. But I believe we can make this a competitive organization, even a winner.

And I believe we can get these charters valued at their true worth.

Ware fields winning organizations in other motorsports series, including NHRA with Clay Millican. A Ware-owned team won the 2024 American Flat Track championship, the 2022 FIM World Supercross Championship and the 2019-2020 Asian Le Mans Series prototype title.

Puchyr did not reveal to the AP how much hes paying for Wares organization, which technically only holds the charter for Cody Wares car this season and runs Corey Lajoie in a second open car in select races. Once it gets its leased charter back from RFK in 2027, the team will have at least two cars with the focus on purchasing a third.

Purchasing charters is not easy at this time as multiple teams have interest but lack the monetary funds to buy them at the ever-increasing rates. Among them is Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has not been able to get his hands on charters to take his Xfinity Series team to NASCARs top Cup Series level.

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AP auto racing:

好意思联社北卡罗来纳州夏洛特电 —— Spire Motorsports麇集创举东说念主之一已达成公约，将收购里克·韦尔（Rick Ware）抓有的NASCAR车队通盘权，并重返赛车系列赛。此举源于他以为现时特准筹划权价值被严重低估。

T.J.普希尔于周四向好意思联社显现，他已与里克·威尔赛车达成公约，将鄙人赛季接管该车队。2018年，普希尔曾与杰夫·迪克森共同创立Spire车队，接办了产品行赛车未能转让的参赛权。

当普希尔（Puchyr）和迪克森（Dickerson）购入Furniture Row车队的特准筹划权时，NASCAR定约版的特准筹划模式商场已名存实一火。此前产品行雇主巴尼·维瑟（Barney Visser）托福他们的中介机构出售该筹划权，在未能找到买家的情况下，两东说念主最终以600万好意思元自行收购，并组建了我方的赛车队。

这一决定激活了特准筹划权商场——最近一次特准权往返发生在斯图尔特-哈斯车队旧年底退出赛事时，成交价约为3000万好意思元。普切尔和迪克森因给本来千里寂的特准筹划体系注入活力与价值而广受颂扬。

旧年，普切尔将其抓有的Spire股份出售给了TWG赛车开通公司首席实行官、新开荒的凯迪拉克F1车队端庄东说念主丹·托里斯。2025年技能，普切尔为包括RWR和Legacy Motor Club在内的多支车队提供商榷劳动。他密切调度商场动态，并参与了近期多场触及NASCAR与23XI Racing及Front Row Motorsports之间的法庭听证会——这两支车队因旧年9月拒却签署特准筹划公约而拿起反把持诉讼。

纳斯卡杯系列赛仅有36个特准参赛席位，这些席位能确保车队投入每场比赛并得到相识收入。普奇尔以为这些席位现时被严重低估，在他与Spire公司终末的往返中，协助以4000万好意思元价钱从Live Fast Motorsports车队购得一个特准席位。

他告诉好意思联社：'我对组建三车车队充满信心。我信任法国赛车眷属过甚引颈的赛事发展标的，也但愿其他激动和业界东说念主士能了解——我以为这些车队特准权的价值至少在7500万好意思元以上。'

韦尔的第二份宪章又何如呢？

凭证普切尔与韦尔的公约，普切尔将保留韦尔当作互助伙伴的身份，同期不竭让韦尔的男儿科迪驾驶51号福特赛车，并留用RWR车队通盘现存职工。韦尔现在领有的第二张特准筹划权已租赁给RFK车队，但遗产汽车俱乐部提议法律目的，称其已达成公约将鄙人赛季收购该特准筹划权。

法官未扶植Legacy的诉求，并指出Ware已与RFK就2026年的第二份特准筹划权达成租赁公约。普希尔（Puchyr）以为，各方均无法践诺Legacy与RWR之间的合同（他称该合同由Legacy草拟），且Ware在2026年无法为Legacy提供任何租赁或购买的特准筹划权。Ware已对Legacy拿起反诉。

由七届NASCAR冠军得主、名东说念主堂成员吉米·约翰逊（Jimmie Johnson）抓有的双车杯赛车队Legacy，近期与私募股权公司Knighthead Capital Management达成互助。双正直共同探索向其他多项赛车赛事系列彭胀的可能性。

普希尔暗示：‘要是有东说念主值得被廓达大度，那一定是吉米。要是他欣慰像个男东说念主相同坐下来谈谈，我会磋商进行对话。’他对Legacy告状韦尔一事感到不悦。

“我以为吉米（Jimmie）并不了解一皆事实，也不睬解咱们之前的公约，他们还试图公开欺凌里克（Rick）。咱们不会以这种方法作念营业。”

现在，普切尔（Puchyr）和韦尔（Ware）礼服，现租出给RFK车队的第二张特准筹划权将于2027年致密其团队，这将使普切尔得以扩大组织限制。他规划购入第三张特准筹划权，筹划是在2027年前将该组织发展为领有三辆赛车的杯赛车队。

普希尔能打造出一支顺利之师吗？

韦尔（Ware）在业内完成的特准筹划权往返量仅次于斯派尔（Spire），一度抓有四项特准权。如今他正试图重组团队，并让男儿当作车手参赛以赢得比赛——普希尔（Puchyr）但愿能助他完了这一筹划。

普希尔暗示：'我在每个层级所作念的每件事上都取得了顺利，我以为咱们不错与这些家伙一较上下。我信赖咱们不错一步一个脚印地打造它，但这需要东说念主力、财力和时候。我了了地意志到（RWR）是车库中排行第36位的赛车，咱们都看到了这少许。但我信赖咱们不错让这个组织具备竞争力，以致成为赢家。'

我信赖咱们能让这些特准状得到其应有的价值。

韦尔旗下的车队在其他赛车系列赛中屡获盛誉，包括与克莱·米利肯（Clay Millican）互助的NHRA赛事。其麾下团队曾斩获2024年好意思国平川赛说念锦标赛冠军、2022年国外摩联寰宇超等越野锦标赛冠军，以及2019-2020赛季亚洲勒芒系列赛原型车组别总冠军。

普奇尔未向好意思联社显现他收购韦尔车队的具体金额。该车队现在仅抓有科迪·韦尔本赛季赛车的特准筹划权，并在部分比赛中为科里·拉乔伊提供第二辆“绽放”赛车参赛。待2027年从RFK车队收回租赁的特准筹划权后，该车队将至少领有两辆赛车，并规划要点购置第三辆。

现时购买特准筹划权并非易事，尽管多支车队专门向，但因资金不及而难以搪塞抓续高潮的价钱。其中就包括名东说念主堂成员小戴尔·恩哈特（Dale Earnhardt Jr.），他于今未能顺利购得特准筹划权，无法将其Xfinity系列赛车队提高至NASCAR顶级杯系列赛级别。

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