What’s Happening?

Ron Devine, the former owner of NASCAR Cup Series Team BK Racing, pleaded guilty for failure to pay payroll taxes in federal court Wednesday. Devine has yet to be sentenced.

• Devine, who owned NASCAR Cup Series team BK Racing, was accused of not paying payroll taxes and instead transferring over $2 million to other businesses under his control.
• This is just the latest blow to the former NASCAR team owner, who has spent a lot of time in court since his team was closed in 2018. In January, an appeals court upheld a 2022 ruling that Devine must pay $31 million to the trustee who manages BK Racing’s bankruptcy proceedings.
• Though the team supplied recognizable names like Corey LaJoie, Matt DiBenedetto, and Alex Bowman, with some of their first starts in the Cup Series, BK Racing is mostly remembered as a disappointment to fans. Throughout its history, BK Racing has failed to achieve lofty goals in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• The team mostly fielded underdogs and drivers past their prime, only scraping together three top-ten finishes in 520 starts, finishing no better than sixth. This poor performance came to a head in 2018, and it shuttered its operation during the season. Its assets and Charter were sold to Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — NASCAR’s first Cup Series race outside the United States was off to a bumpy start Friday with several teams yet to arrive in Mexico City because of travel issues in North Carolina.

At least one chartered flight to Mexico City was grounded Thursday with an engine issue, leaving teams scrambling to find alternative routes to get to Mexico. Some drove to Atlanta to catch a commercial flight.

But when the track opened Friday, many were not at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Trackhouse Racing was among them — Daniel Suarez arrived Tuesday with some support personnel so he was not affected — but the communications director for the Cup team had been summoned to help unload the Trackhouse cars off the truck because no crew members were available.

The trucks came directly from last Sunday’s race in Michigan and arrived at the Mexico City track on Thursday.

NASCAR said only “a select few” teams aren’t on site Friday morning. But, it seems most are Xfinity Series teams based on a revamping of the weekend schedule.

“Due to two aircraft issues that grounded multiple race teams in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, NASCAR has adjusted the on-track schedule for this weekend’s activities at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,” NASCAR said in a statement.

NASCAR delayed Friday’s originally planned Cup Series practice to later in the afternoon. NASCAR also pushed all Xfinity Series practice sessions from Friday to Saturday. And, the first of two NASCAR Mexico Series races will run earlier than originally scheduled on Friday.

The Xfinity Series will lose some practice time, with just one 50-minute session on Saturday morning, right before qualifying. There are other slight adjustments as well, but Cup teams will not lose any practice.

Jeff Gordon may be a former professional race car driver, but he’s just like any other dad when it comes to teaching his kids how to drive.

On Tuesday, June 10, Gordon appeared on an episode of Today and spoke about what it was like teaching his daughter, Ella, 17, how to drive. Gordon shares Ella and son Leo, 14, with wife Ingrid Vandebosch. When asked how he teaches them how to get behind the wheel, Gordon cheekily replied, “Very carefully.”

“Very carefully. I mean, you get ‘em started young. You go to the parking lot,” he joked. “You get in the driveway.” 

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He was then asked if he’d taught his kids how to drive stick, which is how one historically drives a race car.

“My goal this summer is to get both of my kids to learn how to drive stick,” the dad of two said. “So it is definitely a goal.”

“But I will say, one of the most terrifying moments I’ve had is being in the passenger seat. I’m not a very good passenger to begin with, when my daughter was first getting her permit. Oh boy.” 

Although Ella is now driving, getting her license wasn’t the first time she was behind the wheel. When she was 6, Gordon introduced her to the world of racing. “Ella driving a quarter midget for the first time yesterday,” he captioned an Instagram post in April 2014. “The smile says it all.”

However, Gordon later shared that racing didn’t seem to be something she was interested in.

“[Racing] didn’t seem to stick,” Gordon shared on The Charlotte Observer podcast in November 2023. Instead, her interest in speed came in another form: running.

“My daughter is the athlete in the family,” he said. “She’s the speed demon. She runs track.” He went on to call her “a tremendous athlete” in track and field.

“She [also] plays field hockey. She can play about anything, honestly. She can high jump, pole vault,” he said proudly.

His son also learned how to drive a quarter midget early on, at the age of 7. In 2017, Gordon shared a video of his son driving laps for the first time on his website. “He had a lot of fun!” he wrote.

Similar to his sister, though, Leo didn’t want to follow in their dad’s footsteps. “They just have other interests and that’s fine,” Gordon said on The Charlotte Observer podcast. “I want to support them and whatever they’re passionate about.”

In fact, Gordon’s son seemed to be more interested in the entertainment industry. “I think he might want to be a YouTube star one day, you know, an influencer,” he said with a laugh.

Todd Gilliland was fastest in the final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

It was a traditional 25-minute session, but came after teams had 50 minutes on track earlier in the day.

Gilliland clocked in at 93.181 mph (93.396 seconds). He only ran a total of six laps in his Front Row Motorsports Ford.

Ross Chastain was second fastest (93.041 mph). Ty Gibbs was third fastest (92.865 mph), Ryan Blaney was fourth fastest (92.837 mph), and Chris Buescher was fifth fastest (92726 mph).

The rest of the top 10 in practice saw Ryan Preece at sixth fastest (92.669 mph), Austin Cindric seventh fastest (92.651 mph), Joey Logano eighth fastest (92.641 mph), and Daniel Suarez ninth fastest (92.633 mph). And then it was Shane van Gisbergen in 10th place (92.601 mph).

Cup Series point leader William Byron was 16th fastest. Ryan Truex was 34th fastest for Joe Gibbs Racing as he substituted for Denny Hamlin.

There were no significant incidents during the session aside from Gibbs hitting a curb and having a solo spin early in the running.

Noah Gragson was the only driver who did not participate in final practice. Gragson’s team is preparing the backup car after he hit the wall entering Turn 4 in the first practice session.

NEXT: Cup Series qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET Saturday.

Alex Bowman has been medically cleared to take part in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico City.

However, the team have a contingency plan for the possibility that Bowman, who wrecked hard at Michigan last weekend, doesn’t feel comfortable or able to perform in the car.

Anthony Alfredo is on site as a potential replacement, already entered into Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at the same circuit, after plenty of practice as the organization’s primary simulator driver.

Bowman hit the wall head on at extremely high speed last weekend, the back end of the car lifting into the air with the force of the impact, which he later called probably the hardest wreck of his career.

READ MORE: NASCAR Cup Series 2025: Mexico City start times, schedule, and how to watch live on TV

Bowman excited for Mexico race

Bowman, who missed four Cup Series races in 2023 after he fractured a vertebra, jarred his back heavily in that Michigan wreck but has been cleared for this weekend’s taxing road circuit.

“I’m really looking forward to racing in Mexico this weekend,” he said earlier in the week. “It’s always special to bring our sport to new places and feel the excitement from fans who don’t always get to see us race in person.”

Bowman’s No. 48 car hasn’t been performing of late as he looks to work his way back into the postseason, but he has a strong record on street and road courses – even winning around the streets of Chicago last year.

He said this week: “Our No. 48 Ally Chevy team has had speed, but we haven’t had the results to show for it lately. We’re ready to turn our luck around and put together a strong race from start to finish.”

READ MORE: NASCAR star Ross Chastain benefits as Team Penske driver demoted after Michigan race

Related

MEXICO CITY (AP) — NASCAR’s first Cup Series race outside the United States was off to a bumpy start Friday with several teams yet to arrive in Mexico City because of travel issues in North Carolina.

At least one chartered flight to Mexico City was grounded Thursday with an engine issue, leaving teams scrambling to find alternative routes to get to Mexico. Some drove to Atlanta to catch a commercial flight.

But when the track opened Friday, many were not at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Trackhouse Racing was among them — Daniel Suarez arrived Tuesday with some support personnel so he was not affected — but the communications director for the Cup team had been summoned to help unload the Trackhouse cars off the truck because no crew members were available.

The trucks came directly from last Sunday’s race in Michigan and arrived at the Mexico City track on Thursday.

NASCAR said only “a select few” teams aren’t on site Friday morning. But, it seems most are Xfinity Series teams based on a revamping of the weekend schedule.

“Due to two aircraft issues that grounded multiple race teams in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, NASCAR has adjusted the on-track schedule for this weekend’s activities at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,” NASCAR said in a statement.

NASCAR delayed Friday’s originally planned Cup Series practice to later in the afternoon. NASCAR also pushed all Xfinity Series practice sessions from Friday to Saturday. And, the first of two NASCAR Mexico Series races will run earlier than originally scheduled on Friday.

The Xfinity Series will lose some practice time, with just one 50-minute session on Saturday morning, right before qualifying. There are other slight adjustments as well, but Cup teams will not lose any practice.