Veteran Spotter Tab Boyd 'Let Go' By HYAK Motorsports

After spending the last three season as spotter for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and HYAK Motorsports (formerly JTG Daugherty Racing), Tab Boyd has been released from his post ahead of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway.

Clayton Hughes, a championship-winning spotter that has previously worked with Martin Truex, Jr. and Joe Gibbs Racing, will serve as the fill-in for Boyd, and starting this weekend at Pocono, will be the eyes in the sky for the 2023 DAYTONA 500 winner.

While HYAK Motorsports has yet to release an official statement on Boyd’s dismissal from the organization – despite a request for comment earlier this week by Racing America On SI – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. confirmed the news while on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Friday.

“Obviously, that’s an unfortunate deal,” Stenhouse said. “The team let Tab Boyd go this week, and 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 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 in the Playoffs and put us in the right position.”

Although HYAK Motorsports nor Stenhouse have mentioned an official reason for Boyd’s release, a line can be drawn to a disparaging post from last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico.

In said post on June 14, one day before the running of the Viva Mexico 250: “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 five minutes. Good area my ass.”

Boyd has not further commented on the incident from last Saturday, and since then has removed the post (and his account) from X. At this time, it is unknown whether this is the pinpointed reason that he has been released from the organization.

Despite his release from HYAK Motorsports, Boyd is still scheduled to be at Pocono Raceway this weekend, where he will be serving as a spotter for Ryan Ellis and DGM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Luke Baldwin and ThorSport Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

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