Another Winning Saturday for Rick Ware Racing – Speedway Digest

For the second straight Saturday, Rick Ware Racing (RWR) earned a pair of victories across two very different racing disciplines some 2,800 miles apart.

Driver Carson Ware won the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model race at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, one week after Luke Baldwin delivered RWR’s first CARS Tour win last Saturday at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina. A few hours later in Chico, California, Progressive American Flat Track (AFT) rider Briar Bauman won the Mission AFT SuperTwins feature at Silver Dollar Speedway to deliver a third straight SuperTwins victory to RWR and Harley-Davidson.

“To have Carson win our second CARS Tour race and for Briar to keep our streak alive in AFT SuperTwins, all on the same day, that’s the kind of weekend you dream about,” said team owner Rick Ware. “Carson has been putting in the work, and to see it pay off with his first CARS Tour win means a lot, especially so soon after Luke’s victory. And what Briar is doing is remarkable. Three straight wins in SuperTwins speaks to his grit and determination. These are the moments that define a team’s identity, and I’m proud of what we’re achieving and building at RWR.”

In securing his first career CARS Tour win, the 25-year-old Ware outlasted the competition and the weather. He took the lead for the first time after deftly navigating an oily racing surface from the blown engine of Dylan Garner. Then, on the ensuing restart, Ware pulled away from a hard-charging Ben Maier. Shortly thereafter, the yellow caution flag waved for rain. CARS Tour officials were forced to stop the race just past the halfway mark, making the result official with Ware the winner.

“I had some big shoes to fill with Luke winning last weekend. I’m glad we could do it again this weekend,” said Ware in victory lane.

“Troy (Smith), my crew chief, was talking to me before the race. We knew it was going to be pretty aggressive out of the gate and we were going to have to try to get as much track position as possible. Luckily, my spotter did an awesome job and we were able to get through turn one and we had it covered from there.”

Once the rain came, it was up to Ware to hang on until the yellow flag waved.

“It was a little sketchy through (turns) three and four. I felt pretty good through (turns) one and two. We were just trying to adjust the line,” Ware said.

“This car is phenomenal, this team is phenomenal, and I can’t thank my sponsors enough. This year, we really decided to dive deep into this CARS Tour series. FURY Race Cars, all the guys, Troy Smith and everybody that works on these things, they’re top-tier, so I couldn’t do it without them. I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity.”

With a second CARS Tour win in as many weeks, there was a palpable sense of déjà vu within the RWR camp even before Bauman hopped onto his No. 3 Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R ahead of the Silver Dollar Short Track feature. The two-time Grand National Champion proceeded to make a calculated charge to the front, swallowing up second-place Dallas Daniels and then leader James Ott to take the point. Bauman then extended his lead, crossing the stripe 1.969 seconds ahead of runner-up Davis Fisher.

Bauman’s back-to-back-to-back victories gives him the most wins so far this season, and it earned him an edge in the championship, with the 29-year-old expanding his advantage over second-place Daniels to 10 points (107-97) with five races down and 11 to go.

“I’m going to ride this high for a little while,” said Bauman, who now has 29 career SuperTwins wins, the last seven coming since joining RWR in 2023. “It’s been a little bit of time, and I know what it feels like to not be in this position. I’m going to keep it going. I’m going to love it.”

Making the win even more special for Bauman is that before the event even started, he and his wife, Shayna, who serves as RWR’s team manager for its AFT program, announced they are expecting their first child later this year.

“To announce that we’re having our first child – all the credit to my wife and all that she’s been going through lately,” Bauman said. “Thank you so much to my whole team for everything. I know I’m on a roll right now, and I’m not going to take it for granted, but I feel really good.”

The respective victories by Ware and Bauman represented wins six and seven on the season for RWR. In addition to Bauman’s three SuperTwins triumphs, his AFT Singles teammate, Chase Saathoff, won March 29 at the Senoia Short Track in Georgia. That victory was Saathoff’s first with RWR and the fourth of his career. The 19-year-old joined RWR this year after spending 2022-2024 as an independent AFT Singles rider.

Not to be outdone by his two-wheeled counterparts, NHRA Top Fuel driver Clay Millican has also contributed to RWR’s 2025 win tally. On March 30 in the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip in California, Millican drove his RWR-prepared Mighty Fire Breaker/Parts Plus dragster to a final round victory. It was Millican’s eighth career Top Fuel win in the NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series, the last five of which have come since he joined RWR in late 2022.

The next CARS Tour race for RWR is May 15 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway where Baldwin is back in the seat. AFT, meanwhile, has a month-long break before returning to action June 7 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri.

The NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series lights up May 15-18 at Route 66 Raceway in the Chicago suburb of Elwood, Illinois.

The NASCAR Cup Series remains ever present, with Cody Ware wheeling RWR’s No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse in today’s Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth before heading to Kansas Speedway in Kansas City for next Sunday’s AdventHealth 400.

RWR PR