Fourth-Generation Racer To Pilot No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RWR
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 15, 2025) – Cody Ware is a fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver. The 29-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina, will contest the entire 2025 Cup Series schedule behind the wheel of the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR). Billy Plourde will be his crew chief.
In 2024, Ware competed in nine Cup Series races and earned the second-best average finish among drivers who ran a limited Cup Series schedule. Ware’s average result of 21.0 was second only to A.J. Allmendinger, who competed in 16 races and earned an average finish of 20.5. Buoyed by a career-best finish of fourth in the Aug. 24 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Ware bested Shane van Gisbergen (12 starts, 22.8 average finish), B.J. McLeod (seven starts, 28.3 average finish), Kaz Grala (24 starts, 28.5 average finish), Derek Kraus (six starts, 29.7 average finish), Jimmie Johnson (nine starts, 30.6 average finish), Austin Hill (four starts, 31.8 average finish) and J.J. Yeley (eight starts, 33.6 average finish).
“The NASCAR Cup Series is where every driver wants to be and I’m grateful to be back fulltime,” Ware said. “I’ve improved as a driver and RWR has improved as a team, and this is, by far, the best opportunity I’ve had in NASCAR. I aim to make the most of it and earn the respect of my competitors.”
Ware began racing at 16, following in his family’s footsteps as a fourth-generation racer. It was a late start considering many drivers begin their careers at age 5 in go-karts, but since climbing into a Legend Car and running upward of 50 races in his first season, Ware has seemingly been making up for lost time. After racing Late Model stock cars in 2012-2013, Ware began his NASCAR career in earnest in late 2013, securing a handful of starts on the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour before racing across the NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2014. On March 5, 2017, Ware made his Cup Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Outside of NASCAR, Ware has made his mark in sportscar racing. He won the 2019-2020 LMP2 championship in the Asian Le Mans Series with co-driver Gustas Grinbergas. In a prelude to that title, Ware was the 2014 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Rookie of the Year. Last January at Daytona, Ware piloted a Ligier JS P320 to a podium finish in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 class. Ware has also competed in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup and the NTT IndyCar Series.
“Cody made a lot out of the nine races he ran for us last year and proved that he was deserving of a fulltime opportunity,” said team owner Rick Ware. “Running a part-time schedule isn’t easy because it’s hard to develop consistency when you’re out of the car for weeks on end. But Cody made it work and he and crew chief Billy Plourde developed a good rapport. It made sense to see what could come of their collective efforts when they’re working alongside one another week in and week out. A full season together provides the best chance for everyone to succeed.”
The 2025 Cup Series season begins with the exhibition Cook Out Clash Feb. 2 at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before the 36-race slate of points-paying events kicks off Feb. 16 with the 67th Daytona 500. Both races will be broadcast live on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
About Rick Ware Racing:
Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver’s seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX).
