Former Cup Owner Ron Devine’s Exploitation Polluted NASCAR for Years Before Facing Severe Legal Consequences

Well, it is not every day that NASCAR makes headlines for anything apart from racing. The sport itself never fails to deliver nerve-wracking drama with its high-octane theatrics. The drivers and their on and off-track rivalries and contention among the teams for the hunger of being the best have always captured the sympathies of the audience. Moreover, since time immemorial, the sport has tried to maintain a pristine image of itself and trying to stay away from harm’s way.

However, the intentions seldom ally with reality, and the fate of NASCAR was no exception. There have been numerous instances when the sport has got the shorter end of the stick, owing to the misdemeanor of drivers, teams, or the authorities. Whether it was an on-track brawl between two veteran drivers, drivers getting injured, or being charged by the state authorities for driving under the influence, NASCAR has witnessed instances that could splatter mud on their branding.

However, the recent unfolding of the events has left the sports authorities and the fandom at a loss for words. A team and its owner, that once proudly housed present-day veteran drivers of the Cup Series, are now on the verge of facing federal charges and punishments after being indicted for it.

Nonetheless, the question that seems to bug the mind of every NASCAR fan is whether it is just the tip of the iceberg and more remains to be unearthed. Furthermore, whether the indictment of Ron Devine was an overnight case of tax evasion or whether it was a gradual accumulation of drops that led to the final blow. For this one has to delve deeper into the recent fiasco that has mired the world of NASCAR.

Ron Devine’s allegedly shrugs off his responsibility

When it comes to NASCAR and its teams, only a few can make it big into the most competitive world of motorsports, while others are lost permanently in the sands of time. Few of the teams that have been able to withstand the tests of time are Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. On the opposite spectrum, one such team that made a temporary mark in the sport was BK Racing. 

Ron Devine owned BK Racing and the team fielded cars for the Cup Series between 2012 and 2018. Moreover, the team was also the former owner of Bubba Wallace’s No.23 Toyota Camry. Although the team may not have reached the pinnacle of success, it had a fruitful run as it nurtured some of the most talented drivers of NASCAR, like Alex Bowman, JJ Yeley, and Landon Cassill. 

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However, the tables turned for BK Racing, after the team owner Ron Devine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As a result, Union Bank & Trust Company dragged the team to the court in an attempt to declare the ownership of the charter, which BK Racing had leased out to Front Row Motorsports. 

The court documents which were released highlighted that BK Racing owed UB&T $9.1 million. Moreover, the charters of the car were used as collateral for loans. The team owner Devine, on the contrary, stated that the amount they owed was nearly $8 million. In an interview with Bob Pockrass, Devine stated, “They wanted to make a big stink about it so that we would react and do stuff that we don’t want to do with them. We’re working on it. I actually have an agreement with them in place. They’re not going to stop until we finish, but we have an agreement that will get us cleaned back up.”

Ron Devine’s own driver sues him for evading payment

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This lawsuit eventually led the bankruptcy court to liquidate the organization’s charter to Front Row Motorsports for $2.08 million. However, this was not the first time that BK Racing and his owner had walked down the corridors of a courtroom. A similar instance had cropped up back in 2013 when one of its star drivers had filed a lawsuit against the team for sabotaging his NASCAR career. 

According to the reports, Cassill had sued the team for $205,000 and charged him for two different propositions. One was the unpaid winnings, and the other was the compensations and fees that were owed to him. 

In a press conference, Cassill exclaimed, “I really hated to go the legal route but at the end of the day I’m ultimately asking to be paid what I earned last season. I was excited to race for BK in 2013 and was disappointed when my contract was not renewed for this season.”

Furthermore, it was rumored that the team had intentionally deceived Cassill in order to prevent him from finding a seat in NASCAR for the 2013 season. Apart from Cassill, there were other drivers who had publicly bashed the team for not paying their wages. A few of them are Martin Truex Jr’s younger brother, Ryan Truex and David Ragan.

A tricky path lies ahead of BK Racing’s owner

Before we delve into the present federal charges that were issued against Ron Devine, the team owner was mired in serious legal banter during the filing of the bankruptcy. The team was in debt of $1.2 million with their engine builder, Race Engine Plus, and $95,000 with their tire partners. Both the companies had requested bankruptcy court to let BK Racing accept their terms or face termination of their contracts.

Fast forwarding to 2023, the team owner has faced new charges that have resulted in the unearthing of the six-year-old cases. The seeds of the charges that led to the indictment of Devine were sowed back in 2022. The team owner was found guilty of not complying to disclose the financial standings. Which led to the judge slapping a hefty penalty of $31 million to be compensated to the organization that had acquired BK Racing.

The charges on which Devine was indicted again on Wednesday, as stated by the Internal Revenue Service, were for failing to remunerate payroll taxes on four different occasions. According to the reports, as stated in the indictment, the 67-year-old Devine had allegedly failed to compensate more than $390,000 in payroll taxes due to the IRS. 

Moreover, the report states that between 2012 and 2017, instead of paying payroll taxes with the funds that were held, the team owner transferred more than $2 million to businesses that were owned under his name. With the case proceeding further, Ron Devine has been slapped with a hefty fine of $250,000 for each of the violations and could face five years in prison. 

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Now, it will be a patient wait for the NASCAR community to watch the flow of the proceedings.