Tab Boyd, who has served as Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s spotter since the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, will not serve as the spotter of the No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet going forward. In his place will be Clayton Hughes, a NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning spotter, this weekend at Pocono Raceway.
A request from TobyChristie.com for comment from HYAK Motorsports on the spotter change for this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway has gone unanswered at this time, but the team’s driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., confirmed that Boyd has been let go by the HYAK Motorsports team in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Friday morning.
“You know, obviously, that’s an unfortunate deal. The team let Tab Boyd go this week, and we got Clayton Hughes to come fill in. I’ve never worked with Clayton. You know, obviously, I think the concern for me is trying to get on the same page as quick as we can knowing that, like you said, the schedule coming up, going to Atlanta next week could be a very important race for our race team and trying to get us into the Playoffs and put us in the right position.”
While the official reason for Boyd’s dismissal mid-season from HYAK Motorsports has not been revealed, the spotter made a questionable post on social media during last week’s race weekend at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
In a post on X on June 14, Boyd stated, “I’m ready to go home, screw this place, people can talk it up all they want… can’t even walk out the front door of the hotel without getting hustled and money snatched….in less than 5 minutes. Good area my ass….”
Boyd, who was the spotter for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team prior to his stint at HYAK Motorsports, has since deleted his account on X.
There will be a few more changes atop the spotter’s stand heading into this weekend’s NASCAR National Series racing action at Pocono Raceway, in addition to the change for the No. 47 NASCAR Cup Series team.
TJ Majors, who has been out following a medical procedure prior to the Coca-Cola 600 in May, will return as the spotter for Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing team in the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend. Majors will also return to his spotting duties in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Carson Kvapil and the No. 1 JR Motorsports team, as well as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Matt Mills and the No. 42 Niece Motorsports team.
Freddie Kraft, who is the spotter for Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 23XI Racing team in the NASCAR Cup Series, will add spotting duties in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as he’ll be the eyes in the sky for Gio Ruggiero and the No. 17 TRICON Garage team. Frank Kimmel II had previously been the spotter for Ruggiero.
The NASCAR National Series on-track action at Pocono Raceway gets kicked off on Friday, June 20, with a slew of NASCAR Truck Series on-track sessions. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice will begin at 12:35 PM ET and will be followed by NASCAR Truck Series qualifying at 1:40 PM ET. Both sessions will be televised on FS2.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to the track at 5:00 PM ET for the MillerTech Battery 200 race around the Tricky Triangle.
