Cody Ware will race full-time during the 2025 Cup Series season, driving his family’s No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Rick Ware Racing announced Wednesday.

Ware, 29, ran in nine Cup races for his father’s Rick Ware Racing in 2024, recording his career-best finish with a fourth-place result at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in August.

He missed time from April to December in 2023 when NASCAR suspended him following an altercation with his then-girlfriend. NASCAR lifted the suspension on Dec. 12, 2023 when the assault charges were dropped after Ware and his now ex-girlfriend refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

Though the Greensboro, N.C., native never completed a full 36-race schedule, he ran in all but one Cup race in 2022 (35 starts) and all but four in 2021.

“The NASCAR Cup Series is where every driver wants to be and I’m grateful to be back full-time,” Ware said Wednesday in a team statement. “I’ve improved as a driver and RWR has improved as a team, and this is, by far, the best opportunity I’ve had in NASCAR. I aim to make the most of it and earn the respect of my competitors.”

Ware’s first full-time campaign will start at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Feb. 2, which will also be the debut of Billy Plourde as the team’s crew chief.

–Field Level Media