By: Toby Christie – @toby_christie

BK Racing, which is a team that fields cars for Corey Lajoie and Gray Gaulding in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has been issued a federal tax lien, The Final Lap has learned through a public record which was brought to our attention by an anonymous source.

According to a form 668 (Y)(c) which we have confirmed was filed by North Carolina’s Secretary of State, Elaine F. Marshall in April, the race team — which has been a fixture in NASCAR’s premier division since 2012 — owes nearly $500,000 ($486,836.38 to be exact) to the Internal Revenue Service.

This news comes on the heels of the announcement earlier this week, that one of the prolific teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — Red Horse Racing — is shutting down.

According to the form, the business has roughly 10 years to pay back their tax debt, as there is a 10-year statute of limitations for the IRS collecting a tax debt. In most cases a tax levy is issued before the 10-year mark is reached. If you haven’t caught a radio ad talking about this situation recently, what happens in a tax levy is that the IRS literally seizes any and all of your assets to aid in paying off your tax debt.

What exactly does this mean?

That remains to be seen, but the lien doesn’t mean that the team will be shutting down shop just yet. However at the very least it’s troubling news for an organization that has one of NASCAR’s valuable Team Charters (BK Racing sold the No. 83 team charter in the offseason to Front Row Motorsports). A tax lien will hurt the team’s credit rating, which will make any large purchases or acquisitions in the future a lot more difficult to pull off.

BK Racing arrived in the Cup Series in 2012, after purchasing assets from the former Red Bull Racing Team. The team has had several drivers in their cars over the last five seasons including: David Reutimann, Travis Kvapil, Landon Cassill, Alex Bowman, Ryan Truex, Cole Whitt and Jeb Burton.

BK Racing’s best finish in a race came at Bristol last season when Matt DiBenedetto finished sixth in the spring Bristol race in the team’s No. 83 car. 11 races into the 2017 season, Lajoie sits 34th in the championship standings, while Gaulding finds himself in the 36th position.

Attempts to reach BK Racing’s owner Ron Devine and Revenue Officer Dixon, who’s in charge of the lien have been unsuccessful at the time of this posting, but this story will be updated as more information rolls in.

UPDATE May 26th 12:34pm ET: A search online of BK Racing’s shop address shows that the building is currently on the market to be sold or significant space inside the building is ready to be rented out.

The asking price appears to be $2,600,000 on LoopNet.

UPDATE May 26th 7:00pm ET: BK Racing co-owner Ron Devine was gracious enough to make contact with The Final Lap and discussed this Federal Tax Lien at length. Over the 14-minute discussion, Devine repeatedly stated that he was confident that the situation will be resolved.

“We’ve got our arms around it. We are working with [the IRS] very well. They are working with us. Life will be just fine,” said Devine.

Devine wants his employees to remain calm as he believes that the anonymous source, which brought the record to our attention was actually an enemy of BK Racing.

“It may be factually true, but it’s not accurate. It comes from a bogus place, which is our enemies,” Devine speculated.

Who may have wanted to spread bad press about the race team? Devine wasn’t sure, but he is convinced that someone brought the tax lien to light for their own personal gain.

Devine then went on to explain how much this racing team means to him.

“This business is very important to me,” Devine explained, “And I’m here to stay, I’ve invested tens of millions of dollars — not hundreds of thousands — tens of millions of dollars. I want NASCAR to be the number one sport in the country, not number two.”

Devine ended the conversation by saying that this little obstacle is not a massive road block like many have believed.

“The fact of the matter is that it isn’t as bad as it looks,” Devine stated. “We’re working real well with them and have for many, many years. I’ve been in business for 38 years. You’re talking about a couple of quarters. No big deal.”