Hyak Motorsports has made a change at an important position ahead of the race weekend at Pocono. The team has let Tab Boyd go and brought in a new spotter to work with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The roster sheets provided the first indication that the Cup Series team had replaced Boyd, who had made critical comments about his experience in Mexico City before deleting his X account.
Stenhouse then confirmed the roster move during a Friday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
"Obviously, that's an unfortunate deal," Stenhouse said. "You know, the team let Tab Boyd go this week and we got Clayton Hughes to come fill in. ...A bit of a bummer, but just part of the way this industry goes and the sport goes sometimes."
Stenhouse and Boyd spent multiple seasons working together. The veteran spotter left Hendrick Motorsports after the 2021 season and made his way to JTG Daugherty Racing -- now Hyak Motorsports.
"I think Tab is a top-five spotter on the roof in our garage," Stenhouse told the author of this article during Daytona 500 Media Day in 2022.
"And (he's) got really good success winning at all different types of racetracks. Definitely feel like him and (Joey Logano) worked really well. Him and (William Byron) worked really well."
This partnership between Stenhouse and Boyd featured a Daytona 500 win in 2023 and a win at Talladega Superspeedway last season. They accumulated seven top-five finishes and 22 top-10s in three-and-a-half seasons together.
Stenhouse will now move forward with another veteran guiding him. Hughes will take over as the spotter after previously winning a championship and a couple dozen races with Martin Truex Jr.
Hughes also won a Daytona 500 and a road course race with Michael McDowell and Front Row Motorsports.
"So I've never worked with Clayton," Stenhouse said. "Obviously, I think the concern for me is just 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 is a, 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.
"So just try to work really hard this week on, you know, trying to get that communication down and make sure I know exactly what he's trying to convey to me through what he's seen. Obviously, he's got a lot of experience, so I feel comfortable with that piece of it."