“RWR has flagged and flailed in the rear.” In its first statement after filing a lawsuit against Rick Ware’s team, Legacy Motor Club did not mince its words. Yet Jimmie Johnson’s team itself is nowhere near NASCAR’s standard of excellence. Since the 7-time Cup Series champion took over as co-owner in 2023, poor on-track performance, team management, and strategic decisions have plagued LMC. Now, the team faced another setback from RWR, which had received LMC’s demeaning words earlier.

In early April, Jimmie Johnson’s team claimed Rick Ware was pushing back on a charter deal. LMC asked the court to impose a temporary restraining order and filed an injunction to prevent RWR from doing anything with the disputed charter. Although the first request went through, the second one just fell apart.

One down for Jimmie Johnson 

Legacy Motor Club tried to paint a picture of its own struggles in court. In the 46-page lawsuit, Jimmie Johnson’s team said that Rick Ware Racing had an official Charter Purchase Agreement on March 3rd but later tried to renege on that deal. According to LMC attorney Keith Forst, the dispute pertained to ‘Charter 27’, loaned out to RFK Racing’s No. 69 Ford for 2025 and higher in value than RWR’s ‘Charter 36’. Reportedly, the charter transaction was worth roughly $45 million, a record for such an agreement in the 8-year history of this model. So LMC filed a preliminary injunction, urging the courts to place the disputed charter 27 under lockdown. Unless this is enforced, the team asserted that they risk immediate and irreparable harm. LMC had plans to expand to a four-car team by 2026. But now these plans remain suspended as the court did not oblige.

Jimmie Johnson filed the lawsuit in the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Courts. According to NBC Sports, the hearing on Wednesday morning lasted three hours in front of Judge Clifton H. Smith. Robert Marcus, representing RWR, argued that the team always intended to sell ‘Charter 36.’ Forst said, “notwithstanding the misidentification of the number,” that it was “crystal clear,” that they were negotiating over ‘Charter 27.’ However, the boat tilted to Rick Ware’s side as the North Carolina judge decided not to grant LMC’s request for a preliminary injunction. Upon hearing of the successful court proceeding, Rick Ware stated his relief. “RWR is gratified by the Court’s decision in this case. It’s good to be vindicated.”

With this phase of the lawsuit disadvantaging Jimmie Johnson and his team, Rick Ware can relax in his motorsports endeavors. After all, the veteran team owner has an omnipresence in diverse racing disciplines. These include NASCAR, NHRA, and Supercross, and Ware’s teams have a jam-packed 2025 season. In early March, Ware reflected on managing his hectic schedule: “It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a seven-day-a-week, 52-week endeavor, so you have to love it. I’m going to be in Florida…splitting my time between AFT in Daytona and NHRA in Gainesville. I don’t get to as many AFT and Top Fuel races as I would like, so with each being in the same state and relatively close, I need to make the most of the schedule.” While this lawsuit looks settled, one such lawsuit is far from over.

And that is the antitrust lawsuit 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have filed against the governing body of NASCAR. The court granted a preliminary injunction in favor of 23XI and Front Row, allowing them to race in 2025 under the existing charter system and purchase additional charters from Stewart-Haas Racing. But this is not a win. The core issue has not yet been solved. To make matters worse, NASCAR has appealed the injunction and filed a counterclaim against the teams, further complicating the situation. The countersuit alleged that the teams had orchestrated anticompetitive conduct in connection with the charter agreements. But how did the teams respond?

Michael Jordan, his team, and FRM called the counterclaim “an act of desperation” and requested that it be dismissed. And the fresh development is the request to involve Formula 1, presenting its financial data in court to support the claim. This motion is rooted in the teams’ desire to perform a “yardstick comparison” to calculate what their revenues would have been in a major racing circuit that the teams claim has a more favorable business model than NASCAR. While F1 has “refused to produce the requested information”, the teams feel that, “F1 has no valid basis for its refusal to produce the requested information.” But one thing’s for sure. The lawsuit is a pressurizing affair.

It is possible that Jimmie Johnson may be chafing under pressure from the lawsuit. Even so, the NASCAR legend looks forward to his grand milestone, which is coming at the end of this month.

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Extending a legacy of excellence

Well, Legacy Motor Club may not be living up to its team name yet. However, its co-owner already basks in a golden legacy in NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson has inarguably been one of the greatest drivers to have entered NASCAR. He is an 83-time Cup race winner and owns 7 championships – 5 of which came consecutively between 2006-2010. Among his achievements are four trophies from the Coca-Cola 600, a crown jewel race in the Cup Series. This number put him just one behind Darrell Waltrip’s record of five victories in the sport’s marquee marathon event. Despite leaving full-time NASCAR racing back in 2020, the 49-year-old driver can hope to tie with Waltrip this season.

Piloting the No. 84 LMC Toyota, Jimmie Johnson will run his 700th Cup Series start at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His 699th already happened this season at the Daytona 500, where Johnson wheeled his car to a spectacular 3rd-place finish. Johnson said back in February: “These two races hold a special place in my heart, and I’ve always loved the energy and excitement that surrounds them. The Daytona 500 is a crown jewel of NASCAR – there’s nothing like it. Charlotte Motor Speedway is where I made my first start in the NASCAR Cup Series, and it’s always felt like home to me.” Now, preparations are in full swing for Johnson’s return to the Coca-Cola 600. Carvana will sponsor the event, and co-founder Ryan Keeton said that “our team is committed to creating a special livery that measures up to his 700th start milestone.”

Jimmie Johnson is juggling tough challenges and exciting endeavors at the same time. While he just lost a legal challenge, the veteran can look forward to redeeming his on-track excellence.