Joe White, the spotter for Ty Dillon and the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, has been released from the team.
Dillon was involved in a massive crash on Lap 236 of 267 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which directly involved fellow Chevrolet and title contender William Byron.
The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Byron had no idea that Dillon (who was off-sequence), planned to pit. The message never made it to the driver of the No. 24, and Dillon did not signal as he believed Byron was going to be informed via the spotter's stand.
When he slowed to pit while still up on the banking, Byron slammed into the back of him with a speed difference of at least 50mph, causing catastrophic damage to both vehicles.
As a result of the crash, Byron is now 15 points below the cutline, and Kaulig has taken rather immediate action against its own spotter.
Motorsport.com reviewed post-incident interviews and radio chatter in a story you can find HERE.
Kaulig releases White from the team
White, who was going to shift to a different role within the organization in 2026, has now been fired.
"Got to Talladega, parked the bus, got fired," revealed White on social media. "In an uber to the airport to go home for the weekend. Also to be clear, it was already determined that I would not be spotting for Ty next year, but that I would still be with Kaulig in some fashion. But not now."
Just before the collision, the No. 24 spotter told Byron that Dillon would be moving up and out of the way, and it's unclear why he believed that to be the case. There was no communication about the No. 10 planning to pit that lap.
Dillon later said that White told him he did let the No. 24 team know ahead of time, while Byron told the media at the infield care center that "nobody said anything to my spotter from what I know."
Frank Deiny will take over over spotting duties for Dillon this weekend, moving over from the No. 16 Kaulig car. T.J. Bell is now listed as spotter A.J. Allmendinger and the No. 16 Chevrolet.
The decision is somewhat surprising, as Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice gave a recent interview to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio before White's dismissal: "At the end of the day, it's not on the No. 10 car. The green flag was out. It's called racing. You got to have slow cars to pass so you have a good race. If you don't have slow cars and it's just fast cars riding around, it's going to be an awful race. I hate it for everybody, but I'm not going to take blame. You're sitting at a stoplight and you get hit from the backend, are you going to take the blame when the car behind you hit you?"
Read and post comments