When Stewart-Haas Racing collapsed, Ryan Preece was the last man out the door. He came to RFK Racing as an underdog, with zero Cup Series wins and a five-year playoff drought. One year later, he is a Cook Out Clash winner with the best stats of his life. But then the “Welcome” mat at RFK comes with an expiration date. Preece is a man racing on borrowed time, strapped into a seat that, on paper, ceases to exist in ten months.

The No. 60 Ford he climbed into is running on a leased charter after a one-year arrangement with Rick Ware Racing that gave Preece a full-time seat. This means stability was never guaranteed from the start. But Preece doesn’t hide how much RFK Racing has come to mean to him.

“I want to stay at RFK. I really do. I really like where I’m at. I 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,” Preece said. And the results he is taking about, that has been phenomenal.

In 2025, Preece had three top-five finishes, 14 top-10s, and a sharp 15.7 average finish, which helped establish the No. 60 team as one of the breakout performers of its first full-time season. In the nine races since the Daytona 500, he has quietly racked up an average finish of 12.6. And now even though his future behind the wheel is uncertain, he is focused on what he and the team are building.

“Winning’s winning. It doesn’t matter if it’s a points race or a non-points race. When you win, it’s the same emotion. It shows the potential in our No. 60 group at RFK. 2026 has been a year of consistency, and I feel like the sky is the limit. The communication and team chemistry are there, and we’re going to keep pushing.” And the team is not blind to the results he put in, but even their hands are tied.

People at the top have complete faith in him. Ask Keselowski, who practically is ready to shell out $80 million if need be to get a charter to keep the young driver. Except there is a problem.

There are no charters available for purchase. “As it stands today, there are no charters that I’m aware of that are for sale. If there was, we’ve certainly talked to everybody that we think could potentially sell one, and they know our interest. We’ll have to see,” Keselowski said. That uncertainty traces back to a wider charter dispute that reshaped the entire situation.

Rick Ware Racing (RWR) said it settled a dispute quietly in September 2025 under a confidential agreement that paved the way for Legacy Motor Club to secure a third charter in 2027. The conflict had begun months earlier in April, when LMC filed suit claiming a 2026 agreement was in place—a claim RWR disputed, arguing the deal was always meant for 2027. The settlement brought an end to the legal battle but also effectively put RFK Racing on notice with a deadline looming.

So, losing the charter could mean Preece loses his place in the Cup series since the other drivers have already secured theirs. As for RFK Racing, they’ll be behind again with the lack of data from their third car. It will also hurt Ford, which is running a small program in the Cup Series.

Furthermore, after the lawsuit between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports was settled with NASCAR, it has been suggested that the price of the charters in NASCAR is going to shoot up to almost $80-100 M. Keselowski explained the math in layman’s terms.

“So if you just apply simple sports math and say 20 times multiple on the charter that has a revenue of 4-5 million. Then you are looking at the $80 million number. That said, not one today has traded for anywhere near that. The last one to trade or sell was about in the $40 million range. That’s a long-winded way of saying it’s going to be about $40-80 million most likely.”

The basic sports math he’s talking about deals with the evaluation of franchises or, in NASCAR’s case, charters. When big companies are sold, the evaluation is based on the profit they make, but a sports franchise is evaluated based on revenue, as Keselowski explained.

For context, the RWR-LMC charter that kicked off all this legal drama had a sale price of $45 million on the table, which lands squarely in the range Keselowski used.

RFK Racing faces a shrinking window in an $80 Million charter market

The charter system was launched in 2016, and at that time, a charter cost roughly around $2 million. Today, that same thing goes for anywhere between $40 million and $80 million. Forget the price, the availability is a major issue. So what options do they have is the biggest question now. Well, the clearest opportunity that RFK Racing had was when four charters hit the market with the shutdown of Stewart-Haas Racing after 2024.

Front Row Motorsports paid $29.5 million for one, 23XI Racing bought another for $28 million, and Trackhouse took one for $26.5 million. Gene Haas held on to the fourth to start his own single-car Haas Factory Team. RFK missed out on the whole thing entirely.

Another possible route was JTG Daugherty Racing, which was rebranded as Hyak Motorsports in 2025.  Rumours have it that JTG would sell its charter to RFK. However, the team stayed in support of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., though RFK did walk away with their biggest sponsor, Kroger. With that, Hyak was left financially vulnerable, but still in possession of its charter.

The Kroger part of this whole situation is now quite central. The grocery giant did not sponsor one car—they came to RFK for all three drivers. Kroger uses Keselowski, Buescher, and Preece for 20-plus participating brands, including Red Baron and Allegra, for in-store marketing. NASCAR insiders suggest that the deal includes exit clauses specifically tied to the three-car setup. So if RFK is forced to downsize, Kroger has the leverage of reducing funding or even walking out.

To put things into perspective, with losing the third charter, RFK stands to lose more than just a car. The team’s strategy currently seems to be pretty straightforward: win and apply pressure. The 10-month lifeline has defined what RFK’s culture will be going forward in the 2026 season and the coming years. February 2027.