2025 Cup Series Team Preview: Rick Ware Racing

Cody Ware returns to full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing for the first time in three years. (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Tale of the Tape:

Driver: Cody Ware

Age: 29

Experience: 106 career NASCAR Cup Series starts

Crew Chief: Billy Plourde

2024 season: Nine Cup Series starts, one top five, one top 10

CONCORD, N.C. – In 2024, it seemed Rick Ware Racing as an organization was taking a step forward. However, entering the new NASCAR Cup Series season, things have taken a different direction.

Last season Justin Haley took underperforming RWR equipment and brought it to new heights. At times, a 30th-place day turned into a top 20, where throughout some races the team saw top-15 and even top-10 contention at times.

However, the driver who was perhaps the brightest prospect the team ever had has moved on.

A late, in-season driver swap of Haley and then-Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie ensued last September, and since that fall weekend, Haley has become a franchise driver at Spire and LaJoie has dropped back to part-time status with RWR in a second entry, the No. 01.

With all that said, team owner Rick Ware’s son Cody Ware will drive RWR’s lone full-time entry this year. After handling and settling off-track issues, the 29-year-old is looking to recapture the focus and discipline of racing 38 weekends a year once again.

Experience isn’t the issue for Ware entering each race this year, and it won’t even be about mirroring what Haley did with an average finish of 23rd last season, but instead Ware’s main job should be to provide stability.

That means completing all the laps and staying out of cautions and wrecks.

Potential Tracks of Contention: 

• Daytona Int’l Speedway: (Has an average finish of 10th in four races since 2022)
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway: (Finished 18th last season during part-time schedule)
• Bristol Motor Speedway: (Was 17th in 2022 during the Bristol Night Race)

While expectations aren’t as high as they might have been for Rick Ware Racing headed into the new year, one thing for certain is that they can bring speed.

Another thing that will help Cody Ware throughout the season is the fact that he and the organization will grow hand and hand together, meaning progress is better than stagnation throughout the season.

The 2025 Cup Series season begins with the non-points Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Feb. 2, followed by the 67th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 16.

Coverage of both races will air on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.