Rick Ware Racing, which fielded a full-time #51 and part-time #52 in 2018, will turn into a full-time two-car operation for the 2019 Monster Energy Cup Series season. In addition to its #51 charter, the team acquired a second charter for the #52, guaranteeing both cars a spot in every race in 2019.
“It’s been a busy off-season for our team since Homestead but we’re embracing 2019 with a wide-open approach,” team owner Rick Ware said in a release. “By acquiring a second Cup charter it will allow us to have two full-time cars at the race track each weekend where we hope it will allow the two teams to work together and improve the team performance overall from the 2018 season.”
To build up the organisation, RWR purchased cars from Leavine Family Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
Credit: Talladega87 / English Wikipedia
RWR’s #51 debuted in 2017 with various drivers like Timmy Hill, Cody Ware, Josh Bilicki, B.J. McLeod, Ray Black Jr., and Kyle Weatherman. Running in thirty races, Hill scored the team’s best finish of twenty-eighth at Kansas Speedway in the spring. The #51 eventually finished the 2017 season fortieth in the owner’s championship.
The #51 became a full-time team in 2018 with fourteen drivers piloting it throughout the season. Justin Marks recorded the car’s highest run at the Daytona 500 of twelfth as it finished thirty-sixth in the owner’s standings. During the year, the part-time #52 entered six races, qualifying for five with McLeod, Ware, Harrison Rhodes, Gray Gaulding, and J.J. Yeley. McLeod had the best finish of the five when he finished thirtieth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Drivers for the cars in 2019 have not been announced.
The team will also revive its Xfinity Series programme with a #25 car; the number was selected to honor the team’s 25-year anniversary in 2016. Shuttered after the 2016 season to focus on its now-defunct Camping World Truck Series branch, the Xfinity team last raced at Road America in 2017 with Nicolas Hamann, who finished twenty-ninth in the #17.
“I’m also thrilled to know that we’ll return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona and sport the #25; a number that is truly meaningful to me – celebrating our 25th year of existence less than two years ago,” Ware added. “It’s going to be our busiest year yet in NASCAR competition, but I feel we will be adequately prepared and look forward to a successful season.”
