DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Top-10 finishes have been rare for Rick Ware Racing since the team began regularly competing in the Cup Series in 2017. However, Saturday night's race at Daytona showed the tides are turning.
"I think we showed people that we can be in contention for the win at superspeedways," Cody Ware told AltDriver on pit road after posting a career-best fourth-place finish.
Ware entered Saturday night's race with one top-10 finish at NASCAR's top level. He crossed the line sixth at Daytona in 2022. He then surpassed that mark during a race featuring multiple multi-car wrecks and one car landing on its roof.
The significance of this fourth-place finish was not lost on Ware or his father, team owner Rick Ware. They shared a long embrace on pit road as crew members and officials went about their post-race business. Rick stood by with a smile on his face as he watched reporters interview his son.
The last few months have shown that @RickWareRacing is building some competitive race cars. Cody Ware continued this trend by scoring a career-best finish at Daytona. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/hSPpItEFeY
— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) August 25, 2024
This finish was a long time coming for the organization that once fielded four entries. It was a big moment in a journey filled with wrecks, struggles on the track, and a rotating lineup of drivers.
However, the Next Gen era has shown that Rick Ware Racing has continued focusing on improvement. The team scaled back to only two full-time entries. It brought in new personnel on the competition side of the business.
RWR agreed to an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing and then later joined forces with RFK Racing. The team then brought in Justin Haley to take over the No. 51 and provide feedback about the program.
Bolstering the competition department and working with a bigger organization is only part of the process. The drivers also have to perform and keep the cars clean.
Haley has done so in the No. 51 while only failing to finish two races -- one due to a mechanical issue. Ware has done so in his six starts. Saturday night was a prominent example as he kept the No. 15 clean during a race in which 32 of the 40 cars were involved in incidents.
"Between the RFK alliance and the better program we're getting with Ford Performance and Roush Yates, the stats don't lie, the numbers don't lie," Ware said. "The 51 and the 15 are just performing. It's taken a long time for us to get here, but now that we're here, definitely enjoying it and soaking it in."
Of course, Ware knows that top-10s at superspeedways are only more steps in this journey. The team has aspirations of consistently contending for top-fives and top-10s at a variety of tracks.
There is speed to gain on road courses and at short tracks. There are opportunities to improve at intermediate tracks after Haley scored top-10 finishes at Gateway and Darlington. There is time to gain on pit road.
The work never ends, but Ware believes the future is bright.
"I think now that we can show people that we can run up front, now we just gotta keep repeating that," Ware said.