NASCAR: Charter drama engulfs BK Racing and Front Row Motorsports

BK Racing’s financial troubles have now engulfed the NASCAR charter system, with their current charter and one sold to Front Row Motorsports in jeopardy.

The NASCAR charter system was instituted to give Monster Energy Cup Series teams more equity in the sport, while also potentially allowing teams to use it as leverage for loans. BK Racing took advantage of this tool, putting their two charters up for collateral for a large loan from a bank. Now, the bank has come calling, but BK Racing has complicated matters and is not going down without a fight.

As reported by ESPN’s Bob Pockrass, Union Bank and Trust of Virginia is suing BK Racing for $19.1 million owed on a loan, with their two charters for the #23 and #83 Toyota used as collateral. However, the #83 Toyota’s charter was sold to Front Row Motorsports before the 2017 season. The charter was then leased by FRM to TriStar Motorsports for the #72 Chevy for the full 2017 season. Expectations are that FRM will either lease the charter to another team in 2018 or sell it.

However, the situation with Front Row’s third charter is now complicated by the lawsuit involving BK Racing. The lawsuit asserts the bank can now count the two charters as assets because BK Racing owner Ron Devine did not pay down the loan. Devine disputes these claims, saying this to ESPN’s Bob Pockrass about the matter:

"“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 [the lawsuit] until we finish, but we have an agreement that will get us cleaned back up.”"