CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A former NASCAR team owner pleaded guilty to at least one federal charge on Wednesday.

Federal judicial officials said Ron Devine — who owned BK Racing — was accused of failing to pay payroll taxes.

Devine was first indicted in 2023. That indictment alleged that between 2012 and 2017, Devine transferred more than $2 million to other businesses and entities that he owned and controlled rather than using the funds held in trust to pay payroll taxes.

Federal officials said that in 2017 alone, Devine’s team failed to pay more than $390,000 in payroll taxes.

Devine was not sentenced during Wednesday’s court appearance and was released on bond follow his guilty plea on June 11, 2025. When he is sentenced, he could face up to five years in prison, plus a $250,000 fine.

Earlier this year, the former owner reportedly lost an appeal and was ordered to pay $31 million stemming from a bankruptcy case. ESPN reported that BK Racing filed for bankruptcy in February 2018, just three days before the season-opening Daytona 500.

BK Racing in NASCAR

BK Racing competed in the Cup Series — NASCAR’s highest level of competition — from 2012-2018.

The team primarily used car numbers 23, 83 and 93, and scored three top-10 finishes during its history, highlighted by Matt DiBenedetto’s sixth-place finish at Bristol in 2016. The team never won a race.

Aside from DiBenedetto, other notable drivers who raced for BK Racing include Alex Bowman, David Reutimann, Travis Kvapil, Corey LaJoie and J.J. Yeley. Jeffrey Earnhardt — grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt — drove in three races for the team.

Related: Former NASCAR team owner ordered to pay $31 million after court ruling upheld, report says

Copyright 2025 WBTV. All rights reserved.

¡Bienvenidos a México!

The Cup Series is heading south of the border for the first ever race in Mexico for NASCAR’s top series.

Held at the iconic Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, the world’s best stock car drivers will compete at a track that has been a staple on the Formula One calendar since 1962.

So, what’s in store for Mexico City? What’s the TV and streaming schedule for the weekend? And who could contend for the win on Sunday? Here’s everything you need to know for Viva México 250:

When is the NASCAR race in Mexico City?

The Viva México 250 is set for Sunday, June 15 at 3 p.m. ET.

Before the race, there will be practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday. There will be two practice sessions for all drivers, first for 50 minutes and then for 25 minutes. The following day, the 37 drivers will be split into two groups for qualifying. Each group will have 20 minutes to set a fast lap, with the starting lineup determined by combining the two groups using each driver’s fastest lap.

NASCAR TV, streaming schedule this weekend for Mexico City

This weekend marks the fourth of five races streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Adam Alexander (play-by-play), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call, with Danielle Trotta, Carl Edwards and Corey LaJoie providing pre- and post-race coverage.

Here’s the full schedule for Mexico City:

Friday, June 13 (Amazon Prime Video)

Saturday, June 14 (Amazon Prime Video)

Sunday, June 15 (Amazon Prime Video)

NASCAR Mexico City track layout

The Cup Series will use a similar track layout to the one that F1 uses for its grand prix — with one slight difference.

The NASCAR circuit will be 2.49 miles, compared to 2.67 miles for F1. The change comes at turn four, where drivers will make a sweeping right-hander and eliminate two corners that F1 uses.

Here’s a map of what the track will look like:

Sure all major racing circuits have cars that are extremely fast. But do you know the difference between INDYCAR, F1 and NASCAR?

NASCAR entry list for Mexico City

Thirty-seven drivers will race in Mexico City – the 36 full-timers, plus one “open” entry.

Katherine Legge is the anomaly on Sunday, as the 44-year-old British will make her second career start for Live Fast Motorsports. Since there are fewer than 40 cars entered, all 37 teams will make the race.

Here’s the full entry list for Mexico:

NASCAR picks, predictions, favorites for Mexico City

Usually, it’s easy to point out who could contend on any given weekend. Most NASCAR tracks have years of data, history and trends to study. Well, not this week.

No drivers have raced on this track in the current Cup car. So, how do we narrow down the contenders? Let’s take a look at the best road course races and go from there.

It all starts with Shane van Gisbergen, the New Zealander who won his Cup debut at the Chicago Street Race two years ago. He’s now a full-time NASCAR driver, and it’s been a rocky rookie season outside of the one road race in Austin, Texas — where he led 23 laps and finished sixth. Expect a strong showing for SVG, who desperately needs a win to make the playoffs.

Elsewhere, recent road course winners Christopher Bell (Austin 2025), Kyle Larson (Charlotte 2024) and Chris Buescher (Watkins Glen 2024) are three drivers to watch. Bell has the only road win this season after two runner-up finishes last year. Larson is a six-time road winner, including twice last season. Buescher only has one road win, but he’s finished top-11 in 15 of his last 17 starts.

Chase Elliott (7 wins), Tyler Reddick (3 wins) and AJ Allmendinger (3 wins) have historical success at road courses, though neither has won much lately. They’ll always be contenders, and perhaps a trip to a new track could be just what they need.

If you’re looking for a longshot, look no further than Daniel Suárez. The only Mexican driver in the field will surely want to show out for his home crowd, and he’s performed well at road courses before. His first career win came at Sonoma in 2022.

History of NASCAR international races

There’s been just two international races in Cup Series history — held in Canada way back in the 1950s.

The first was at Stamford Park dirt track in Niagara Falls in 1952. Then, they went to Exhibition Stadium in Toronto in 1958, where future seven-time champion Richard Petty made his debut.

Since then, there have been no points-paying Cup races held outside the U.S. There have, however, been several exhibition events across the globe.

In 1988, drivers went down under to Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, Australia for an exhibition won by Neil Bonnett. Nearly a decade later, NASCAR went to Japan for three straight years from 1996-98. The first two races in Japan were at Suzuka Circuitland, then the series concluded at Twin Ring Motegi Superspeedway in 1998.

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace is one of the most recognized names in NASCAR. Here’s what you need to know.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Daniel Suarez has become the unofficial tour guide for all things Mexico City as NASCAR prepares to race internationally this Sunday for the first international points-paying Cup Series event of the modern era.

From where to eat, what to do, how to navigate the city and even basic conversation in Spanish, Suarez has been the go-to guy in the garage since NASCAR said it would take the Cup Series outside the United States for just the third time in 77 years.

The Monterrey native has made multiple trips to NASCAR as the face of Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he’s raced on a different course layout 13 times, with three wins in NASCAR’s Mexico Series.

He’d like to win at the Cup level — if he pulls it out in his home country Sunday it will be his first victory of this season — but Suarez is juggling a very difficult balancing act. He’s elated to be racing in front of a home crowd, honored to show of the culture and magic of Mexico City, but at the same time tremendously concerned about his NASCAR future.

Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, which has Ross Chastain and Shane van Ginsberg under contract while Connor Zilisch is its development driver and on loan to several teams at lower national levels of NASCAR racing.

Trackhouse only has three Cup Series seats, math Suarez can’t ignore as he heads into Sunday ranked 28th in the standings.

“It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it’s not the first time that I’ve been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle of the season,” Suarez said. “It’s definitely a distraction. I won’t sit here and tell you that it doesn’t really matter. I’m trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.”

Return to Mexico

Suarez, the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, has two Cup victories, three Xfinity Series wins and one Truck Series win. His 2016 championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series made him the only foreign-born driver to win a national series title.

Suarez has faced adversity before, but never like the pressure he’s feeling hoping to deliver in front of the local crowd. This weekend in Mexico is special to Suarez, who expects well over 100 of the spectators in attendance Sunday to be friends and family.

They’ve watched from afar as he’s worked his way into the NASCAR spotlight, a journey full of ups and downs that have seen Suarez drive for four different Cup teams. He joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 and last year signed a one-year extension through 2025.

At the time, he said he wanted to reassess where the program was before signing a long-term deal. But it’s been a disappointing start to the season and his average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year.

“The Mexico race is something that I’ve been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I’m not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,” Suarez said. “We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that’s promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.”

Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car this weekend.

“For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn’t racing there,” Suarez said. “So right now that we’re going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that’s great, obviously for me, but for the entire sport.”

Contract Distractions

It’s another layer of pressure for Suarez, who wants nothing more than to balance the demands of being the star of Sunday’s show with delivering a strong showing.

“Once we get into the race, we don’t want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus and have fun driving race cars,” he said. “There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don’t do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn’t really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.”

As Suarez noted, a win on Sunday would dramatically improve his hopes of remaining with Trackhouse on a contract extension. It could happen: Suarez’s first Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course.

He admitted “honestly, I don’t know” about what he’d like out of a contract extension, but said he speaks regularly with team owner Justin Marks.

“The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,” Suárez said. “We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it’s kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow.

“Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that’s brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams,” he continued. “So we’re having all these conversations. I wish I didn’t have to have these conversations, and I didn’t have these distractions, but it’s part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I’m trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Daniel Suarez will have a special sponsor on board for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City, as Telcel – a subsidiary of America Movil – will adorn his No. 99 Chevrolet at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The company is owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, who has a net worth of $93.8 billion.

Daniel Suarez is gearing for a major shift as the NASCAR Cup Series makes its first appearance in Mexico City, stating it will unlock a “whole new world of opportunities” for driver sponsorships. And one of the world’s wealthiest individuals is already on board for the landmark event.

NASCAR is setting its course for Mexico City this weekend to host its first Cup Series race outside of the U.S. in over six decades. It comes after aerial footage showed the state of another NASCAR track fans want to return, while Denny Hamlin created an awkward situation with Michael Jordan and his legal team as 23XI Racing, which almost had a different name, remains locked in its legal battle with NASCAR.

Suarez, the first Mexican-born driver to clinch a win in any of NASCAR’s national series, is eager to showcase his talent on home soil. With the milestone event on the horizon, Suarez has landed a major sponsorship with Telcel, a prominent Mexican telecommunications brand under America Movil.

READ MORE: Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick give same response to future amid 23XI Racing lawsuitREAD MORE: Chase Elliott makes simple comment on NASCAR future putting ball in Hendrick court

America Movil’s magnate Carlos Slim Helu, worth a fortune estimated at $93.8 billion, is behind this significant partnership. He’s now being welcomed to the NASCAR picture with Suarez in a move that underlines the possibilities of going global.

“For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn’t racing there,” Suarez told FOX Sports. “So right now that we’re going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that’s great, not just … obviously for me, but for the entire sport.”

Despite finding himself in a tough spot, ranking 28th in the points standings as he gears up for Sunday’s showdown at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Suarez remains unfazed by the intensifying expectations and the spotlight on his performance compared to last year.

Suarez said: “It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position,” referring to the mounting pressure and being amid contract talks.

“Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it’s not the first time that I’ve been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle [of the season].”

“It’s definitely a distraction. I won’t sit here and tell you that it doesn’t really matter. I’m trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.”

With time ticking, Suarez is focused on clinching a Cup Series win to ensure his spot in the playoffs, despite not having a deal for 2026.

Suarez emphasized his determination to not let external pressures overshadow the upcoming race in Mexico, a moment he has long anticipated. “The Mexico race is something that I’ve been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I’m not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,” he declared.

MEXICO CITY — Daniel Suarez has become the unofficial tour guide for all things Mexico City as NASCAR prepares to race internationally this Sunday for the first international points-paying Cup Series event of the modern era.

From where to eat, what to do, how to navigate the city and even basic conversation in Spanish, Suarez has been the go-to guy in the garage since NASCAR said it would take the Cup Series outside the United States for just the third time in 77 years.

The Monterrey native has made multiple trips to NASCAR as the face of Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he’s raced on a different course layout 13 times, with three wins in NASCAR’s Mexico Series.

He’d like to win at the Cup level — if he pulls it out in his home country Sunday it will be his first victory of this season — but Suarez is juggling a very difficult balancing act. He’s elated to be racing in front of a home crowd, honored to show of the culture and magic of Mexico City, but at the same time tremendously concerned about his NASCAR future.

Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, which has Ross Chastain and Shane van Ginsberg under contract while Connor Zilisch is its development driver and on loan to several teams at lower national levels of NASCAR racing.

Trackhouse only has three Cup Series seats, math Suarez can’t ignore as he heads into Sunday ranked 28th in the standings.

“It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it’s not the first time that I’ve been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle of the season,” Suarez said. “It’s definitely a distraction. I won’t sit here and tell you that it doesn’t really matter. I’m trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.”

Suarez, the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, has two Cup victories, three Xfinity Series wins and one Truck Series win. His 2016 championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series made him the only foreign-born driver to win a national series title.

Suarez has faced adversity before, but never like the pressure he’s feeling hoping to deliver in front of the local crowd. This weekend in Mexico is special to Suarez, who expects well over 100 of the spectators in attendance Sunday to be friends and family.

They’ve watched from afar as he’s worked his way into the NASCAR spotlight, a journey full of ups and downs that have seen Suarez drive for four different Cup teams. He joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 and last year signed a one-year extension through 2025.

At the time, he said he wanted to reassess where the program was before signing a long-term deal. But it’s been a disappointing start to the season and his average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year.

“The Mexico race is something that I’ve been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I’m not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,” Suarez said. “We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that’s promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.”

Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car this weekend.

“For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn’t racing there,” Suarez said. “So right now that we’re going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that’s great, obviously for me, but for the entire sport.”

It’s another layer of pressure for Suarez, who wants nothing more than to balance the demands of being the star of Sunday’s show with delivering a strong showing.

“Once we get into the race, we don’t want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus and have fun driving race cars,” he said. “There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don’t do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn’t really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.”

As Suarez noted, a win on Sunday would dramatically improve his hopes of remaining with Trackhouse on a contract extension. It could happen: Suarez’s first Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course.

He admitted “honestly, I don’t know” about what he’d like out of a contract extension, but said he speaks regularly with team owner Justin Marks.

“The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,” Suárez said. “We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it’s kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow.

“Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that’s brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams,” he continued. “So we’re having all these conversations. I wish I didn’t have to have these conversations, and I didn’t have these distractions, but it’s part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I’m trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing