Ty Dillon’s spotter, Joe White, has been dismissed from Kaulig Racing after the Las Vegas crash that ended William Byron’s race and significantly altered the playoff landscape. The decision came just days before this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice confirmed the change on Wednesday, naming Frank Deiny as the new spotter for Dillon’s No. 10 Chevrolet. T.J. Bell will spot for Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet at “The Tricky Triangle.”
The move followed one of the most controversial moments of the South Point 400. Running second with 32 laps to go, Byron slammed into the back of Dillon’s slower car when the Kaulig driver attempted to pit from the banking. The resulting crash destroyed both Chevrolets and knocked Byron out of the race.
The contact came after Dillon’s spotter, White, tried to alert Byron’s team on the spotter stand, but the message never reached Byron in time. Reposting The Athletic’s report confirming his removal, White took to X and wrote:
“Just to be clear, here is the story of what happened last Sunday. I did in fact go down and tell the spotter of the 24 that we were pitting, and he misinterpreted the information. That’s what happened.”
White’s public clarification reignited debate among NASCAR fans. Some came to his defense, arguing that miscommunication between two Chevrolet teams – Kaulig and Hendrick Motorsports – should not have cost Ty Dillon’s spotter his position.
One fan wrote:
“Typical Hendrick driver/team, they’d blame their own family if they could.”
Others echoed the sentiment.
While some sympathized with White and criticized Hendrick Motorsports’ influence, others defended William Byron’s spotter, Brandon Lines, insisting that on-track communication protocols should have been clearer and that Ty Dillon’s entry to pit road was unsafe given the speed difference.
The NASCAR community remains divided, part frustration over Byron’s costly DNF, part sympathy for Joe White’s sudden dismissal after years of Cup-level experience.
Ty Dillon’s spotter shares his side of the story on the Las Vegas crash: “Obviously, that was misunderstood”
After the South Point 400, both Byron and Ty Dillon offered contrasting accounts. Byron said that he never received any indication that Dillon was pitting and had “zero idea” that the Kaulig car was slowing. Dillon, however, maintained that his spotter had relayed the message to Byron’s camp and that the signal was misunderstood.
Joe White’s later comments provided the entire picture.
“I didn’t get to him. I didn’t touch him on the shoulder, turn him around, but I got, I would say, four or five feet from him… I pointed to the bottom twice and mouthed the words ‘we’re pitting,” White explained, via The Athletic. “Obviously, that was misunderstood. He thought we were giving him the bottom.”
In a follow-up post on X, White revealed the timing of his firing:
“Got to Talladega. Parked the bus, got fired. In an Uber to the airport to go home for the weekend.”
White also revealed his plans to work at Quick Time Auto Body, a North Carolina workshop. Kaulig Racing’s Chris Rice addressed the situation earlier on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, stating:
“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.”
The team will hope for better fortunes, as both A.J. Allmendinger and Ty Dillon finished outside the top 20 at Talladega earlier this year in April.
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Edited by Hitesh Nigam
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