A new report claims that former Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spotter Tab Boyd, who was fired after comments he made about Mexico City, has found a new job at Joe Gibbs Racing with Christopher Bell.
Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass shared on X, “Former Stenhouse spotter Tab Boyd is on the roster as spotter for Christopher Bell this weekend at Atlanta.”
Former Stenhouse spotter Tab Boyd is on the roster as spotter for Christopher Bell this weekend at Atlanta.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 26, 2025
Pockrass did not provide any details on whether this is a one-time job at Atlanta or if he will be with the team moving forward for the rest of the season. Bell did lose his spotter Stevie Reeves following the NASCAR All-Star Race last month. Bell addressed his departure ahead of the Coca-Cola 600, “I was surprised as well. It was all Stevie’s decision. He made the decision on his own to quit, and that is all I’m going to say.”
Joe Gibbs Racing replaced Reeves with Matt Philpott who Bell shared was inexperienced at the Cup level, “He doesn’t have a ton of spotting experience, so I’m going to be spending some time on the roof with him today during the Xfinity race, just to see what he’s seeing, see how he calls it. We had a really good exercise this week doing an iRace, with him spotting me, and I felt like that was really good to learn his language and what he means when he says certain things. We went through a couple of different items. I wanted something a little bit different. The team wanted something a little bit different, so I thought the iRacing experience was really good, and hopefully, we get a little bit closer during the Xfinity race, but I’m sure it will be a period of time, through many races, before we are fully in sync.”
Bell also admitted that Philpott was not high on his list for a new spotter, “Clearly, there is not a ton of options out there with everybody having jobs and continuing on through the season, so there weren’t a ton of guys out there. Nothing against Philpott, but he wouldn’t have been high on the list with his experience level if we weren’t in this situation, but with that being said, he is trying to get into the spotter scene, and it made sense to go that direction. I think he did the Martin Truex car in the Daytona 500, so he had his foot in the door with our company, and yeah, it just made sense to give him a shot. I think it is important to say – he’s doing us a favor. We are not doing him a favor. He is doing us a favor by filling in.”
As for Boyd he became available after Hyak Motorsports fired him after comments he made about Mexico City. Ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico City, Boyd posted to X, ““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….”
For anyone looking for the exact comments from Tab Boyd that it seems may have got him fired. pic.twitter.com/vesBwD6eeO
— Justin Boyles (@Jboyles_12) June 18, 2025
It was then revealed on June 19th that he had been replaced by Clayton Hughes as the spotter for Stenhouse Jr.
Some spotter changes, according to rosters, for Pocono:
TJ Majors (medical) is back this week for Keselowski, Kvapil and Mills
Cup: Stenhouse-Clayton Hughes spotting (was Tab Boyd)
Trucks: Ruggiero-Freddie Kraft spotting (was Frank Kimmel II)
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 19, 2025
Stenhouse then confirmed to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that his team, Hyak Motosports, fired Boyd. He shared, “Obviously, that’s an unfortunate deal. The team let Tab Boyd go this week. We got Clayton Hughes to come fill in. I’ve never worked with Clayton. Obviously, I think, the concern for me is trying to get on the same page as quick as we can knowing, like you said, that the schedule coming up, going to Atlanta next week is a very, could be a very important race for our race team in trying to get us into the playoffs and put us in the right position.”
What do you make of Boyd becoming Bell’s spotter for the Atlanta Cup race?