NASCAR Cup team BK Racing files for bankruptcy ahead of Daytona 500

The chartered team completed the full Cup season in 2017 but had a rotating door of seven drivers across the season, five years after taking over the assets of the Red Bull team.

A chapter 11 bankruptcy usually means that a debtor will propose a plan to reorganise the business and pay its creditors back in time, with BK Racing keen to continue racing in 2018.

In BK Racing's bankruptcy filing, there are 20 creditors owned money which totals over $1.2 million and the team is estimated to have between 50 and 99 creditors total. The largest claim is $569,539.95 owed to Race Engines Plus LLC.

BK Racing's filing also adds that it has more than $10 million in assets and liabilities.

NASCAR could revoke BK Racing's charter - its guaranteed right to start a Cup race and entitlement to larger race revenue - but said it will remain with the team for now.

"We have a clear process around charter member governance," NASCAR said in a statement.

"It is incumbent upon charter members to be ready to race and compete at the highest level.

"BK Racing remains the holder of the charter."

If BK Racing loses its charter, it could still compete in Cup races but would only be entitled to 35% of what a chartered team earns from a race weekend.

In November team items had appeared on a North Carolina auction house website over unpaid debts, and team owner Rob Devine told Autosport in January that his outfit would be on the grid for the Daytona 500.

"We are trying to pick a direction to make our team better," he told Autosport last month.

"Until that's done, you're going to see a lot of noise and nonsense like you see.

"There are a lot of moving parts and I can tell you that the reports [of BK Racing's debts] are people attacking us and they are one side of it.

"We have a side of it. We will fix our company and we will go racing somehow, we will find our way."