Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made headlines in Mexico City for all the wrong reasons. At the Viva Mexico 250, Stenhouse Jr. was not having the best day on the track, riding around in the hopes of salvaging a top-20 finish after a weekend marred by rain and travel delays. However, his Nashville nemesis, Carson Hocevar, had other ideas. The sophomore driver drove into Ricky and spun him out, leading to Ricky making his way down to Hocevar’s car after the race and giving him an earful, which consisted of, “I will beat your a– when we get back to the States.” Amidst all this, Carson Hocevar managed to get fined first!
No, it’s not what you’re thinking. Hocevar’s fine had nothing to do with his on-track interaction with Stenhouse; rather, it was his comments off-track. Hocevar said insensitive things about Mexico City on a Twitch live stream before the race weekend, and has since publicly apologized and been fined $50,000 by Spire Motorsports, along with mandated sensitivity training. Looking back, Hocevar may have gotten off lightly, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s spotter went down a similar route and lost his job!
Stenhouse Jr. loses longtime spotter
The news first surfaced quietly, just as a post from NASCAR journalist Toby Christie in X hinted that a major change had taken place within Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s camp. Toby took to X and posted, “On the Morning Drive on @SiriusXMNASCAR Radio this morning, @StenhouseJr confirmed that former spotter Tab Boyd has been let go by HYAK Motorsports. Stenhouse says he has never worked with Clayton Hughes before, and wants to quickly build rapport this weekend with Atlanta next.”
Speaking on the Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Stenhouse Jr. went on to say, “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. 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.”
Tab Boyd had been the voice in Stenhouse’s ear for years and a crucial part of his 2023 Daytona 500 triumph. Though no official link has been made between his now-deleted social media and the sudden firing, the eerie silence from HYAK Motorsports and the timing say more than any press release ever could. But what did Boyd post that led to such drastic measures?
On June 14, Boyd fired off on X, referring to Mexico City: “I’m ready to go home, s—- this place… 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 a–.” The Internet did not need five minutes to react. Backlash poured in, the post disappeared, and then his entire account, and shortly after, so did his job at HYAK Motorsports. Talk about a hard crash off the grid.
On the Morning Drive on @SiriusXMNASCAR Radio this morning, @StenhouseJr confirmed that former spotter Tab Boyd has been let go by HYAK Motorsports. Stenhouse says he has never worked with Clayton Hughes before, and wants to quickly build rapport this weekend with Atlanta next. pic.twitter.com/1a6Z3pP5Wj
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 20, 2025
After three seasons spotting for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. under the HYAK Motorsports banner (formerly known as JTG Daugherty Racing), Tab Boyd has been released from his role just days before the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway. Taking over the headset is none other than Clayton Hughes, a championship-caliber spotter best known for guiding Martin Truex Jr. to glory in 2017. Starting this weekend, Hughes will be the new voice, calling the shots from above for the 2023 Daytona 500 winner.
Tab hasn’t broken his silence yet, but others have. NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck jumped to his defense on X, saying, “Tab Boyd’s post was not a fireable offense IMO… didn’t think he’d get fired for it.” Gluck noted that while the post may have been an overreaction, it wasn’t hateful, and that a fine or internal action would have been a more proportionate response.
Boyd may be out of HYAK, but he is far from unemployed. He is still set to climb the spotter’s stand this weekend, calling races in the Xfinity Series for Ryan Ellis and in the Truck Series for Luke Baldwin. So yes, he still got a mic, a headset, and a view. His longtime Cup Series post alongside Stenhouse Jr., which clicks like clockwork, has hit a sudden and painful red flag. And with the playoff inching closer, the timing couldn’t be worse.
16 races into the 2025 season, Stenhouse Junior sits 21st in the standings with 312 points. He managed just one top five and two top ten finishes and no wins so far. With the playoff looming, only 16 drivers qualifying, Stenhouse Junior needs every stage and playoff point he can get. And that means that he’d have to build a rapport as quickly as lightning with Clayton before he steps into the No. 47 car.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. walks back the rage on Carson Hocevar
Ricky didn’t hold back after getting dumped by Carson Hocevar in Mexico City. But now that they’re both back on American soil? No fists, no fireworks, yet. With Pocono on deck, Stenhouse Jr. has admitted he’s cooled off, at least a little. In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the HYAK Motorsports driver admitted to what keeps him calm.
He said, “I’ve calmed down a little bit. My wife talks me off the ledge sometimes. She does a good job of that. But it doesn’t change the fact that you get spun out for no reason. Felt like it cost us at least seven spots. We didn’t wreck like at Nashville, but we put ourselves in a spot.” As frustration continues to linger, Stenhouse Jr. doesn’t shy away from expressing it; he adds on, saying, “We got spun a couple times in that race. And just kept trying to fight back and get our track position. Felt like on that long run there at the end—there was still three or four spots right there in front of us that we could get, and we ended up giving up another four or five spots.”
So far, it’s been all words and no punches, but with both drivers on the entry list for Pocono, fights might want to keep one eye on the scoring pylon and the other on the pit road.
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