Rick Ware Racing (RWR) has confirmed a major shakeup for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. After a four-year tenure with Ford, the team will return to the Chevrolet camp, forging a new technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing (RCR).
The team confirmed that Cody Ware will return to the No. 51 Chevrolet in 2026. Ware is coming off a 2025 season where he finished 36th in the owner standings with a season-best finish of 13th.
Regarding their second charter, the status quo remains. RWR will continue to lease its second charter to RFK Racing in 2026, allowing RFK to field the No. 60 Ford for Ryan Preece.
This move marks the end of RWR’s exclusive relationship with Ford, which began in 2022. The team initially held an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing before shifting to RFK Racing in 2023.
The move to Chevrolet also highlights a shifting manufacturer landscape. RWR becomes the second Ford organization to defect to the Bowtie for 2026, following the newly formed Haas Factory Team. This leaves Ford with just four full-time teams in 2026, compared to Chevrolet’s eight and Toyota’s three.
While RWR has a history of running mixed manufacturers (2018–2021) and previously ran Chevrolets part-time in 2017, their recent success has been tied to the Blue Oval. Cody Ware’s statistical highlights including a career-best 4th place finish at Daytona (2024) were achieved in Ford equipment. Notably, Ware led 23 laps at Daytona in the summer of 2025, accounting for more than half of his career laps led.
The team now looks to replicate and exceed that superspeedway success with their new partners at Richard Childress Racing.
Ford’s Cup Series Teams
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Team Penske
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Drivers: Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric
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RFK Racing (Roush Fenway Keselowski)
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Drivers: Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Preece.
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Front Row Motorsports (FRM)
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Drivers: Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, and Zane Smith.
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Wood Brothers Racing
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Driver: Josh Berry
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