RFK Racing President Chip Bowers has revealed that the team is committed to running three cars in the Cup Series next season whether they can acquire a third charter or not.
RFK Racing expanded to a three-car operation ahead of the 2025 Cup Series season, leasing their charters from Rick Ware Racing both this season and last in order to do so.
However, Rick Ware Racing has sold one of its charters to Legacy Motor Club ahead of 2027, leaving RFK Racing desperately looking for another team to sell them one of theirs.
So far, that search has come up short, and with evergreen charters now in place following the 23XI and FRM lawsuit, team co-owner Brad Keselowski has speculated a charter could cost as much as $80 million.
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RFK Racing committed to running open entry if necessary
Running as a chartered team is much preferred to running as an open entry as a charter guarantees entry into every single race, as well as a share of the prize fund.
However, speaking on Jeff Gluck’s Gluckcast, Bowers revealed that if RFK can't find a charter, they're committed to going down the open entry route.
“I'll start by saying we have tremendous momentum as an organisation and we have great backing,” Bowers said. “Our ownership group, from Jack Roush to Fenway Sports Group to Brad [Keselowski], all committed years ago to start a third team.
“When we did that, we were really focused on, ‘How do we create the best tech platforms to support infrastructure to run that third team at the highest level’? We have great partnership support on the 60 car. So we're not going to go backwards as an organisation.
“We will run three cars, that's unequivocally our focus moving forward. We want to purchase a charter, we see great value in the charters, both short and long term. So that's our number one priority.
"Short of being able to access one or acquire one, we'll run open. That’s a decision we’ve already made as an organization.”
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RFK Racing wants to be tier 1A organization
Bowers continued, explaining why running a third car, and not taking the backwards step to running two, is so important to the team and its leadership.
“We are a tier one organisation,” he explained. “We want to be a tier one organisation; the only way that we do that is continue to evolve as a company.
“Add more depth to our roster, both in terms of our partnerships, as well as the tech and support that we get from our OEM and Ford, that's important to us
“We believe that we're heading in the right direction, and our success this year, I think, is a testament to that.”
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