From a 2012 start on a former Red Bull operation to a 2018 bankruptcy and auction, BK Racing fielded Dr Pepper and Burger King cars across NASCAR's top series.
Burger King franchisee Ron Devine and a group of investors ran this Cup team from 2012 to 2018. It was liquidated in August 2018 after a bankruptcy, with most of its assets going to Front Row Motorsports, and Devine later faced court judgments and pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2025.
BK Racing competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2012 to 2018. Owned by Burger King franchise operator Ron Devine and a group of investors, it ran cars numbered 23, 26, 73, 83 and 93 at various points before a bankruptcy led to its liquidation in 2018.
Who owned BK Racing and where did it come from?
BK Racing was owned by investors who had earlier been involved with TRG Motorsports, a Sprint Cup team that closed after the 2011 season. Burger King franchise owner Ron Devine, tomato grower Wayne Press and Thomas Uberall, a former race director of Red Bull Racing, bought the race shop and assets once used by the Red Bull team, which had also shut in 2011, for roughly $10 million.
Devine's Burger King franchises gave the team a way to promote a brand on the cars when no outside sponsor was present. Before the 2012 Daytona 500 the restaurant chain announced a licensing deal covering the designs of the 83 and 93 cars and the company's marks.
A Burger King-backed team that built its Cup presence on a former Red Bull shop and ended in a bankruptcy auction.
How did the Burger King and Dr Pepper partnership work?
A 2013 Autoweek article said the partnership was limited to the licensing agreement, with Burger King not acting as a sponsor. The arrangement also brought in Dr Pepper, which is sold in Burger King restaurants, which appeared as primary sponsor on several occasions, typically on the 93 car.
For 2014 the Dr Pepper car was renumbered 23, a nod to the drink's 23 flavours. It was the car's main backer for the entire season.
How did BK Racing grow in 2014 and 2015?
In May 2014 the team grew to three cars with a new co-owner, Anthony Marlowe, who took a ten percent share. Marlowe had been a partner in the recently exited Swan Racing, had set up the outsourcing firm TMone, and ran Iowa City Capital Partners through its subsidiary, Marlowe Companies Inc. Once the 2015 season ended, he started to sell his share.
The team's engines came from Triad Racing Technologies at the start. Alongside that, BK started building its own engines in 2014, though Triad units still appeared now and then. For 2016 the team bought equipment from the recently closed Michael Waltrip Racing, hired several former MWR employees and received more manufacturer support from Toyota.
Where did the team operate from?
The team worked from a facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, that had previously housed the former Cup team BAM Racing. GMS Racing operated from the same building until 2015.
| Season | Car and driver | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | No. 83, Landon Cassill | 36 races, 31st in driver points, 32nd in owner points |
| 2013 | No. 83, David Reutimann | 33rd in driver points, ran all 36 races |
| 2014 | No. 23, Alex Bowman | 35th in driver points, 36th in owner points |
| 2015 | No. 23, J. J. Yeley and Jeb Burton | Burton 38th in driver points; No. 23 40th in owner points |
| 2016 | No. 83, Matt DiBenedetto | Best finish 6th at Bristol |
| 2017 | No. 23, Gray Gaulding | Gaulding released in June over financial issues |
| 2018 | No. 23, J. J. Yeley | Single-car team run by a trustee after bankruptcy |
What happened to the No. 23 car?
Alex Bowman drove the renumbered No. 23 in 2014, and it finished 23rd in his Sprint Cup debut at the Daytona 500. Bowman ended the year 35th in driver points, while the No. 23 slipped to 36th in the owners' standings. Houston-based Dustless Blasting and other sponsors joined for individual races, and DipYourCar.com later backed both the 23 and 83 cars.
J. J. Yeley took the No. 23 full-time in 2015. Yeley gave up his seat to Jeb Burton at Richmond, and in August the two agreed to swap rides on a permanent basis. A Darlington retro scheme honoured Burton's father, Ward. Burton then failed to qualify at Talladega, the first time the No. 23 had failed to qualify. He finished 38th in driver points and third in the Rookie of the Year standings, and the car ended 40th in owner points.
David Ragan took over the No. 23 full-time in 2016, but his contract was not renewed after the season. In 2017 Gray Gaulding drove most races, while Joey Gase, Ryan Sieg and Alon Day also took turns. Gaulding was released in June because of financial issues.
How did the No. 26 and No. 73 programmes run?
In April 2014, during a break between the Darlington and Richmond races, Anthony Marlowe acquired the No. 26 from Swan Racing and merged it into BK Racing. Cole Whitt was carried over with the car, and the team inherited Swan Racing's Speed Stick GEAR sponsorship. Whitt qualified 18th at Watkins Glen, but his brakes failed while he was running 19th and sent him into the tyre barrier.
At Talladega, with Bad Boy Mowers as sponsor, Whitt led his first Sprint Cup lap after staying out under caution, and he went on to post a career-best 15th there. He finished 2014 31st in both driver and owner points. Jeb Burton replaced him for 2015 with Estes Express Lines as sponsor, but Burton failed to qualify for seven of the first 24 races. Yeley later took over the 26, and the car finished 43rd in owner points.
The No. 73 was a part-time entry in 2012. Travis Kvapil qualified it 33rd and finished 32nd at the Southern 500, and David Reutimann was scheduled for later rounds. The car failed to make the Coca-Cola 600 and was not run for the rest of the year.
What was the No. 83 history?
Landon Cassill drove all 36 races in the No. 83 in 2012. He finished 31st in driver points and the team finished 32nd in owner points. Cassill had 14 finishes of 25th or better, with a best of 18th on three occasions, but his season was marked by an incident with Danica Patrick at Kansas.
Cassill left the team in January 2013, and later sued the team and Devine for unpaid winnings and salary above $205,000. David Reutimann replaced him and took 33rd in the drivers' standings, the lowest placed of any driver who ran all 36 races. He was the only driver to run every race for the car that year, a record that stood out in a difficult season. The car ended 2013 36th in owner points, and Reutimann and the team parted ways after the season.
Ryan Truex had a difficult 2014 in the car, missing three races and collecting eight DNFs. His average finish was 36.3. Reports said he was dismissed after his name was left off the entry list, and J. J. Yeley returned to the 83 for the rest of the year. The car finished 41st in owner points.
Matt DiBenedetto ran the 83 from Atlanta to Homestead in 2015, ending 2015 35th in the driver standings, runner-up to Brett Moffitt in the Rookie chase. He returned full-time in 2016, and that year he scored the team's best finish to date, sixth at Bristol, which was the first top ten for the team since Travis Kvapil's eighth-place run at Talladega in 2012.
How did the No. 93 car finish its run?
David Reutimann drove the No. 93 in the 2012 Daytona 500, and Travis Kvapil took over afterwards. The car finished 28th in owner points that year, with Kvapil 27th in the drivers' standings. In 2013 Kvapil returned to the 93 for the full season and finished 31st in points, while the car slipped to 34th in owner points.
The team ran the car part-time in 2014, when Morgan Shepherd failed to qualify for the Daytona 500. At the Daytona 500 in 2016 Matt DiBenedetto qualified on speed but crashed with Chris Buescher before the halfway point and finished last. At the Ford EcoBoost 400 the car was renumbered No. 49 to promote a video game price.
What led to the collapse of BK Racing?
The team's finances began to unravel in 2018. After a Chapter 11 filing, a trustee replaced owner Ron Devine in running the operation. The trustee then formed a partnership with NY Racing Team to keep fielding the No. 23 car for the rest of the season, and the car was sold at a bankruptcy auction to Front Row Motorsports.
In August 2018 the company was liquidated, and Front Row Motorsports took the bulk of its equipment. Other teams, including Obaika Racing and Rick Ware Racing, received portions of the assets. The bankruptcy auction went to Front Row with US$2.08 million, ahead of GMS Racing at US$1.8 million. Front Row had already bought a charter from BK for US$2 million after the 2016 season.
What were the legal consequences for Ron Devine?
The charter sale became the subject of a lawsuit by Union Bank & Trust Company, which claimed ownership of the charter because of a lien at the time of sale. On 20 December 2022 Devine was ordered to pay US$31 million to the trust managing the team's bankruptcy.
On 18 October 2023 the US Attorney's Office indicted Devine on four counts of failing to pay payroll taxes, and investigators found that part of the diverted money had gone into financing the team. A January 2025 appeal ruling kept the US$31 million judgment in place, and it found that Devine had used several corporations and family trusts as alter egos to divert about US$6.4 million from the team. A separate US$2.5 million judgment was upheld by another appeals court on 29 April 2025.
In June 2025 Devine entered a guilty plea to federal charges tied to the 2023 payroll tax case. The legal record is a reminder of how the team's finances were tied to its owner's personal and business affairs.
What is the legacy of BK Racing?
BK Racing's legacy is a team that used a restaurant brand, a soft-drink sponsor and a string of part-time and full-time drivers to field cars in NASCAR's top series for seven years. Its cars carried the Burger King, Dr Pepper and Speed Stick colours through periods of uncertain funding.
The team's collapse also shows the cost of relying on one owner's wealth. When the money stopped, the charter sales, auction and court cases followed, and the team's assets moved to other operations.
