NASCAR driver reveals secret weapon for Daytona 500

NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be going into his eleventh appearance at the Daytona 500 with renewed hopes. This time around, the JTG Daugherty Racing car #47 driver will have a secret weapon alongside him – new spotter Tab Boyd.

Boyd will be replacing Frank Deiny, who has been with Stenhouse for a season. Speaking to heavy.com during NASCAR Media Day about the future of their partnership, Stenhouse Jr. said:

“I think Tab is a top-five spotter on the roof in our garage. 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.”

Prior to this new assignment, Boyd served as a spotter for William Byron at Hendrick Motorsports for four years. During that period, he helped Byron take the victory lane often, with 51 top-10 finishes, 21 top-fives, and two wins.

Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has spent the last decade appearing at every Daytona 500 event with varying degrees of success. The 34-year-old’s best finish of 7th came in 2014. Although he bagged pole position at the event in 2020, he could not convert it to a win, finishing 20th in the race.

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s NASCAR career beyond Daytona 500

Apart from the Daytona 500, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been a regular competitor in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. His performance in the former has been average, to speak, with his best season finish of 13th coming in 2017. On the other hand, he has been quite successful in the latter, having won the Xfinity Series Championship in 2011 and 2012 with Roush Fenway Racing.

The driver has also been a participant in sprint car and midget racing. He is a part-time competitor and car owner, having formed Stenhouse Jr. Racing in 2012, and then Stenhouse Jr.-Wood Racing in 2017, with Matt Wood.