Brad Keselowski acknowledged this week that RFK Racing needs to acquire a NASCAR Cup Series charter before the 2027 season or face losing one of its three full-time cars. The co-owner/driver also confirmed that, as of now, there is none available to buy, and that if something does come to market, the price could range from $40 to $80 million.
In April 2025, Legacy Motor Club sued Rick Ware Racing (RWR) over an alleged agreement to sell a charter that RWR subsequently backed out of. That litigation dragged through the summer and drew in a second lawsuit involving motorsports consultant T.J. Puchyr, which is still on. The primary case was resolved in September 2025 when both sides reached a confidential settlement.
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Legacy Motor Club took ownership of the RWR charter – Charter 27 – that RWR had leased to RFK Racing for Ryan Preece’s No. 60 entry. Legacy, honoring the existing arrangement for 2026, allowed the lease to run its course through this year. When it expires, the charter returns to Legacy Motor Club, which expands to three full-time cars in 2027.
The settlement between Legacy Motor Club and Rick Ware Racing leaves RFK Racing with two charters – Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 and Chris Buescher‘s No. 17 – and Preece’s No. 60 without guaranteed status. When asked about the situation, Keselowski said on SiriusXM:
“As it stands today, there are no charters that I’m aware of that are for sale. If there was, we’d certainly talk to everyone we’d think could potentially sell one, and they know our interest.”
On the timeline and what it means for the organization, Brad Keselowski added:
“We’ll have to see. It’s still May. We really don’t need a charter until February of ’27. With that said, we really need a charter, and we know that. What we can’t control is that there is a finite amount of them. They’re not making more charters. So, we can’t control the fact that somebody has to be willing to sell it first. So, we have to let the cards play out.”
The supply problem Brad Keselowski describes is structural. NASCAR issued 36 charters when the system was introduced in 2016. Any new charters would require approval from existing charter holders and would realistically only be introduced if a new manufacturer entered the series. There is no OEM announcement pending.
When asked about the prices, Brad Keselowski explained:
“Sports trade differently or sell differently. You might hear about NFL teams itself for five, six, seven, eight billion dollars. And that’s because sports generally trade franchises at a rate of about 20 times their annual revenue. So not their profit, their revenue. And a NASCAR charter is generally speaking worth about four to ten million dollars in revenue… So if you just apply simple sports math and say a 20-time multiple on a charter that has a revenue of four to five million, then you’re probably looking at that 80 million dollar number… So, that’s a long-winded way of saying it’s going to be somewhere between 40 to 80 million, most likely.”
The antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR resulted in a December settlement that made charters permanent. So, charters are no longer tied to a seven-year rolling agreement but held in perpetuity by their owners. That change, while welcome for stability across the garage, has made the market even tighter.
Owners who might previously have considered selling toward the end of a seven-year cycle now have less incentive to let go of an asset that holds its value indefinitely and generates guaranteed revenue through NASCAR’s $7.7 billion TV deal. The result is that the price floor for a charter has risen significantly since the settlement, reports suggesting figures approaching $100 million.
Ryan Preece reacts to RFK’s charter situation and wants to continue working with Brad Keselowski
Ryan Preece, who is producing one of the better seasons of his career in the No. 60 Ford, sits 13th in the standings and is inside the Chase cutline. However, his seat in 2027 for RFK Racing depends, as Brad Keselowski said, entirely on whether a charter comes to market in the months ahead.
Speaking on the situation, Preece said:
“Well, I’m a driver. I want to stay at RFK. I do. I really like where I’m at. I’ve worked really hard to be with an organization that is giving me the tools and the people that I work with to produce results and build on something. So, I’m hopeful, and I can’t do anything more than trying.”
“The Fenway group, Jack (Roush), Brad (Keselowski), they want a third charter. They want it just like I do, and I feel like we have great chemistry as an organization right now, and we got until February to figure that out but hopefully sooner than later.”
All three RFK Racing cars are in the top 16. Brad Keselowski is tenth, Chris Buescher is seventh, and they have started the season strong. Preece won the season opener, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray, and remains committed to the team, despite an uncertain future.
Edited by Sashwat Deo