It's been a tough go for BK Racing, but at least now the team has a driver.
When NASCAR's preliminary entry list came out, BK didn't list a driver, crew chief or sponsor.
But the team has announced, via Twitter, that Gray Gaulding will drive and Rick Bourgeois will serve as crew chief.
BK Racing announces @graygaulding will drive the 23 car in the #DAYTONA500 with crew chief Rick Bourgeois. More information to be released later. Stay tuned...
— BK Racing (@Team_BK23) February 10, 2018
Gaulding, 20, has run part-time in all three racing series. He has one top 10 in the Cup Series and two in the truck series.
All of this comes against the backdrop of continued financial issues plaguing the team. It faces a Feb. 15 hearing in court in which Union Bank and Trust has asked a court to appoint a receiver to operate the team, according to an ESPN report. By doing so, the bank could then sell or lease BK's charter. which would recoup some of the money the bank says the team owes.
The bank claims BK owes it more than $7 million, and the North Carolina Department of revenue has already seized $210,000 in assets.
ESPN reported that a temporary restraining order is still in effect, so team owner Ron Devine can't sell any assets or his charter.
In another development the three haulers and a car that belonged to BK and were listed on Classic Auctions, on its website, have apparently been taken down. Bob Pockrass of ESPN noticed the change:
The auction company that was in charge of the auction of BK vehicles in March has pulled that auction off its list of upcoming auctions ... which could indicate that BK has gotten them back. https://t.co/khRcvgq6fc
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 9, 2018
This is what had been on the site.
Classic Auctions screen shot
And here are photos of the haulers and cars:
It's worth noting that team owner Ron Devine denied a report that the haulers had been seized.
Union Bank & Trust also claims that BK Racing owes it money on a loan that included two charters as collateral. The bank claims it has the rights to the charter for BK Racing's No. 83 car.
Front Row Motorsports bought the No. 83 charter, and they leased the charter to TriStar Motorsports. Cole Whitt drove the No. 72 car for the 2017 season.
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Teams can only lease a charter for one year, so the charter now belongs to Front Row Motorsports unless the court determines otherwise.
Drivers of the 36 charter teams automatically have a spot in the Daytona 500, which leaves four spots for non-charter teams.
Devine, in the past, has downplayed the financial issues.
"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," Devine said. "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."
Devine claims the bank doesn't have the rights to the No. 83 charter, but Devine said he isn't concerned about the issue.