Former NASCAR Cup Series car owner Ron Devine and his affiliates and trusts have been ordered to pay $31 million to the trustees handling his race team's bankruptcy proceedings. Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass reportsDevine was the owner of BK Racing, which ran multiple Cup Series cars from 2012-2018.
According to Fox Sports, the $31 million judgment stems from $6 million that BK Racing paid to Divine-related trusts and companies, plus $11 million in debt that the trustee claims is required by law to be repaid. It's a thing. A judge in the lawsuit ruled that Divine had failed to comply with disclosure procedures for financial disclosure, and awarded the full amount and subsequent penalties to the trustee.
If the money is available and recovered, it will go to the bank that issued the loan, the IRS, former BK Racing employees and others who still owe money through approved bankruptcy filings.
Devine testified that the payments in question were often for short-term loans and that he did all he could to comply with financial disclosure requests.
"I'm trying as hard as I can...to keep up with this thing. It's amazingly overwhelming," Devine said. "...I'm an honest person."
Devine, principal owner of BK Racing and franchise owner of Burger King, entered the Cup series in 2012 with two full-time cars after acquiring the Red Bull Racing property. Despite the team's limited success, BK Racing is famous for launching the careers of young drivers such as Alex Bowman, Matt DiBenedetto and Corey Lajoy.
Three days before the 2018 Daytona 500, BK Racing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after experiencing major financial problems. The team's assets were sold mid-season to Front Row Motorsport, who defended his No. 23 of BK Racing for the remainder of that season.
BK Racing has achieved three top 10 finishes in the team's history, the best being 6th place for DiBenedetto at Bristol in the spring of 2016.