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:
美联社北卡罗来纳州夏洛特电 —— Spire Motorsports联合创始人之一已达成协议，将收购里克·韦尔（Rick Ware）持有的NASCAR车队所有权，并重返赛车系列赛。此举源于他认为当前特许经营权价值被严重低估。
T.J.普希尔于周四向美联社透露，他已与里克·威尔赛车达成协议，将在下赛季接管该车队。2018年，普希尔曾与杰夫·迪克森共同创立Spire车队，接手了家具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车队的特许经营权时，NASCAR联盟版的特许经营模式市场已名存实亡。此前家具行老板巴尼·维瑟（Barney Visser）委托他们的中介机构出售该经营权，在未能找到买家的情况下，两人最终以600万美元自行收购，并组建了自己的赛车队。
这一决定激活了特许经营权市场——最近一次特许权交易发生在斯图尔特-哈斯车队去年底退出赛事时，成交价约为3000万美元。普切尔和迪克森因给原本沉寂的特许经营体系注入活力与价值而广受赞誉。
去年，普切尔将其持有的Spire股份出售给了TWG赛车运动公司首席执行官、新成立的凯迪拉克F1车队负责人丹·托里斯。2025年期间，普切尔为包括RWR和Legacy Motor Club在内的多支车队提供咨询服务。他密切关注市场动态，并参与了近期多场涉及NASCAR与23XI Racing及Front Row Motorsports之间的法庭听证会——这两支车队因去年9月拒绝签署特许经营协议而提起反垄断诉讼。
纳斯卡杯系列赛仅有36个特许参赛席位，这些席位能确保车队参加每场比赛并获得稳定收入。普奇尔认为这些席位当前被严重低估，在他与Spire公司最后的交易中，协助以4000万美元价格从Live Fast Motorsports车队购得一个特许席位。
他告诉美联社：'我对组建三车车队充满信心。我信任法国赛车家族及其引领的赛事发展方向，也希望其他股东和业界人士能了解——我认为这些车队特许权的价值至少在7500万美元以上。'
韦尔的第二份宪章又如何呢？
根据普切尔与韦尔的协议，普切尔将保留韦尔作为合作伙伴的身份，同时继续让韦尔的儿子科迪驾驶51号福特赛车，并留用RWR车队所有现有员工。韦尔目前拥有的第二张特许经营权已租赁给RFK车队，但遗产汽车俱乐部提出法律主张，称其已达成协议将在下赛季收购该特许经营权。
法官未支持Legacy的诉求，并指出Ware已与RFK就2026年的第二份特许经营权达成租赁协议。普希尔（Puchyr）认为，各方均无法履行Legacy与RWR之间的合同（他称该合同由Legacy起草），且Ware在2026年无法为Legacy提供任何租赁或购买的特许经营权。Ware已对Legacy提起反诉。
由七届NASCAR冠军得主、名人堂成员吉米·约翰逊（Jimmie Johnson）持有的双车杯赛车队Legacy，近期与私募股权公司Knighthead Capital Management达成合作。双方正共同探索向其他多项赛车赛事系列扩展的可能性。
普希尔表示：‘如果有人值得被网开一面，那一定是吉米。如果他愿意像个男人一样坐下来谈谈，我会考虑进行对话。’他对Legacy起诉韦尔一事感到不满。
“我认为吉米（Jimmie）并不了解全部事实，也不理解我们之前的协议，他们还试图公开羞辱里克（Rick）。我们不会以这种方式做生意。”
目前，普切尔（Puchyr）和韦尔（Ware）确信，现租借给RFK车队的第二张特许经营权将于2027年回归其团队，这将使普切尔得以扩大组织规模。他计划购入第三张特许经营权，目标是在2027年前将该组织发展为拥有三辆赛车的杯赛车队。
普希尔能打造出一支胜利之师吗？
韦尔（Ware）在业内完成的特许经营权交易量仅次于斯派尔（Spire），一度持有四项特许权。如今他正试图重组团队，并让儿子作为车手参赛以赢得比赛——普希尔（Puchyr）希望能助他实现这一目标。
普希尔表示：'我在每个层级所做的每件事上都取得了成功，我认为我们可以与这些家伙一较高下。我相信我们可以一步一个脚印地打造它，但这需要人力、财力和时间。我清楚地意识到（RWR）是车库中排名第36位的赛车，我们都看到了这一点。但我相信我们可以让这个组织具备竞争力，甚至成为赢家。'
我相信我们能让这些特许状获得其应有的价值。
韦尔旗下的车队在其他赛车系列赛中屡获殊荣，包括与克莱·米利肯（Clay Millican）合作的NHRA赛事。其麾下团队曾斩获2024年美国平地赛道锦标赛冠军、2022年国际摩联世界超级越野锦标赛冠军，以及2019-2020赛季亚洲勒芒系列赛原型车组别总冠军。
普奇尔未向美联社透露他收购韦尔车队的具体金额。该车队目前仅持有科迪·韦尔本赛季赛车的特许经营权，并在部分比赛中为科里·拉乔伊提供第二辆“开放”赛车参赛。待2027年从RFK车队收回租赁的特许经营权后，该车队将至少拥有两辆赛车，并计划重点购置第三辆。
当前购买特许经营权并非易事，尽管多支车队有意向，但因资金不足而难以应对持续上涨的价格。其中就包括名人堂成员小戴尔·恩哈特（Dale Earnhardt Jr.），他至今未能成功购得特许经营权，无法将其Xfinity系列赛车队提升至NASCAR顶级杯系列赛级别。
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