After a costly miscommunication that wrecked both Ty Dillon’s race and William Byron’s Championship 4 hopes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kaulig Racing has fired Dillon’s spotter, Joe White, as confirmed by White himself. AJ Allmendinger’s spotter, Frank Deiny, will now fill in for Dillon, while TJ Bell moves over to spot for Allmendinger.
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The decision follows the Las Vegas race debacle, where Byron, unaware that Dillon was pitting, slammed into the back of the No. 10 car while running second with 32 laps remaining. The crash ended Byron’s day in 36th place and dealt a heavy blow to his title bid.
NASCAR’s managing director of communications, Mike Forde, said on this week’s NASCAR Hauler Talk podcast that series director Brad Moran planned to speak with the crew chiefs from both teams to get to the bottom of the incident. But after internal discussions, Kaulig made its move.
White, who spotted for Kaulig’s No. 16 car last season before joining Dillon’s camp this year, broke the news himself on X, posting, “Got to Talladega. Parked the bus, got fired. In an Uber to the airport to go home for the weekend.”
He later clarified in a reply that he already knew he wouldn’t return as Dillon’s spotter in 2026 but had expected to stay with Kaulig in another capacity, a plan that evaporated with Wednesday’s announcement.
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.
— Joe White (@White_Joe47) October 15, 2025
Fans didn’t hold back either. One wrote, “They probably thought they told you, like you thought you told the 24 you were pitting.” Another jabbed, “Chris Rice said last week was a racing thing with the 24, and he’d put no blame on the 10 car. Guess he needed a scapegoat now.”
Others were more direct: “Well maybe, just maybe, if you communicated to another spotter that your driver was pitting last weekend you’d still have a job,” one fan said. Another declared, “Thank god!! You cost Willy B the championship!!”
Still, a few offered sympathy amid the backlash. “You never want to see someone lose their job. Last weekend was a MASSIVE mistake on someone’s part. I wasn’t there so I won’t say it was you, but communication fell apart somewhere and a major playoff driver got caught up in it. Heads were going to roll. I’m sorry it was you. I hope you find something else very soon.”
Byron, now facing a 15-point deficit heading into Talladega, has little room for error in his push for the Championship 4. As for Dillon, sitting 32nd in points with one top-10 finish across 33 starts, the final three races will be his last shot to claw back credibility and end his season on a stronger note.
