Ahead of the upcoming 2027 season, RFK finds itself amidst a huge dilemma, and that is of finding a third charter for its NASCAR Cup Series team. However, co-owner Brad Keselowski, along with team president Chip Bower, is still planning on running the third car. 

RFK currently runs only two permanent charters. One is the No. 6 piloted by co-owner Brad Keselowski, and the other is the No. 17 piloted by Chris Buescher. But the third charter run by Ryan Preece is the one that the team has leased from RWR. 

However, this charter, also called the No. 27 charter, has been bought by Legacy Motor Club owners Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson, and after a settlement, allowed RFK to use it for 2026. For 2027, however, this has left RFK on a hunt for a new charter.

During Bower's recent appearance on Jeff Gluck's "Gluckcast" podcast, he explained how the organisation has no intention of running just two charters. Explaining RFK’s plan of running an open car, he said:

"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, right? And that's a decision we've already made as an organization. We've shared that with our staff."

Earlier this month, Keselowski shared that the price of a NASCAR Cup charter varies from anything between $80 million to $100 million, and the latter number was seconded by Dale Earnhardt Jr. However, as of now, there doesn't seem to be a charter available for purchase. Nonetheless, the management wants to have the partners invest in a third car.

"It's important for our partners to understand that we're committed to that," Bowers added. "It's important that our staff understands that. Everybody's leaning in, and everyone's fully supportive of that position. Between now and the start of the year, we hope we can acquire one, but if not, we're going to continue to run three cars."

While the charter decision is still something that is a distant issue, RFK recently resolved a month-long penalty issue.

Chip Bower Talks About NASCAR’s Verdict on Ryan Preece’s Penalty

Ryan Preece was slapped with a $50,000 fine, along with 25 points being docked from the driver's championship after he wrecked Ty Gibbs during the NASCAR Cup race at Texas.

NASCAR officials penalized him because of his radio message shortly before the crash, where he showed intent to wreck. It became a controversy because Kyle Busch had a similar incident with John Hunter Nemechek, and wasn't penalized.

RFK appealed the decision on Preece, and during the hearing on Wednesday, NASCAR upheld its decision to penalize the driver. While talking about the penalty, on the Gluckcast podcast, Chip Bower said:

"Jeff, obviously, we are disappointed. Yeah, we support Ryan. We felt like we had a really good case. We provided great evidence. I think all that said, we were just happy to be in the room because I'm glad there's an appeal process."

Comparing NASCAR with other sports that don't have such appeal processes, Bower added:

"You know, not every sport has something where you can have a forum where you can share your case and share your thoughts and share your information and your data, and so from that standpoint, we were glad we had the forum. Were disappointed it didn't go our way.”

RFK Racing did have another chance to appeal to the Final Appeals Officer. However, the team has decided not to pursue the matter anymore.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yask Kotak