Bell Anxious Heading into Atlanta Race With Another New Spotter

Nigel Kinrade | Lumen Digital Agency

It feels like we're a whole season removed from Christopher Bell's dominant three consecutive win streak, which took place between races two through four of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Heading into the 18th race of the season Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, Bell hasn;t reached victory lane in a NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race since, and he's been embroiled in a constantly shuffle atop the spotter's stand.

After Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in May, the driver's longtime spotter Stevie Reeves surprisingly departed the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which left Bell and his team searching for a person to fill the massive void.

In stepped Matt Philpott, a longtime crew member, who had dipped his toe into spotting in recent seasons. While Philpott filled in admirably on short notice, and a lower experience level, when Tab Boyd was let go from HYAK Motorsports due to a controversial social media post during the Mexico City race weekend, Bell's Joe Gibbs Racing team saw an opportunity to add an experienced set of eyes on the radio for the driver of the No. 20 team.

And while the end result will likely be improved performance for Bell as he gels with Boyd, the driver, who is on his third spotter of the season, will have to grow rapport with his new spotter at one of the most stressful tracks for spotters -- EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Bell didn't mince words on Friday during a media scrum at the track; he knows this weekend will be a challenge.

"Uh, yeah, it's going to be tough," Bell stated. "I've listened to Tab on our replay system, but aside from that, that's all we've got. It's going to be tough, for sure, getting acclimated at probably one of the most spotter-intense race tracks on the calendar, but Tab has a bunch of experience. So, we'll play it by ear. And definitely the first Stage or two is going to be a learning curve."

While it's another frustrating reboot for Bell, who will attempt to learn a new spotter on the fly once again, the driver is hopeful that the acquisition of Boyd will put him in a position to contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series title later this season.

"Yeah, I mean I'm super thankful for [Matt] Philpott for jumping in when he did. Right in the heart of our schedule was super, super tough. He did a great job for us, super thankful for him. When Tab became available, it made sense to add some experience to our team as we get closer to the Playoffs and hopefully contend for a championship," Bell explained.

Bell says it was a noticeable transition moving from Reeves to Philpott, who he felt also had a very difficult stretch of races atop the spotter stand for Joe Gibbs Racing beginning with the Coca-Cola 600 in May, and ending with The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway, and he is preparing for another rough transition to Boyd beginning this weekend.

"It's been different. I don't know. Whenever Philpott came in, we went to Charlotte, and he got dealt some really tough racetracks between Charlotte, Pocono, Michigan where restarts are really heavy. It was definitely a transition, and obviously going to Atlanta with Tab is going to be another transition," Bell said. "I don't know. I can promise you, it's been tough, and probably as tough as you could assume it would be."

Has the search for Bell's next longterm spotter concluded with Boyd sliding into the role?

"I have no idea. It's -- I don't know, yet," Bell stated with apprehension in his voice.

While Bell sounded slightly stressed about entering the race weekend with his third spotter of the season, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who Boyd spotted for most recently, says that Bell and the No. 20 team should only improve with Boyd keeping an eye out for the driver on the radio.

"I think it'll only help," Stenhouse said on Friday. "I think, again, Tab gives you really good information, but he's different. Every spotter is different. When I had Mike Herman Jr. spotting for me, I felt like he kind of drove my car. Like he would tell me what lines to block. You listen to Coleman [Pressley] with Joey [Logano], I mean he tells him exactly what to do. Tab will give you all the information, you gotta make a decision on what you want to do. But he gives a lot of really good information."

Bell may have won at EchoPark Speedway in the Spring, but the driver admits that he isn't the most confident driver heading into superspeedway-style drafting tracks like Atlanta.

"This place as well as Talladega and Daytona, it's hard to have confidence just because it's so hard to do and you never know what can happen," Bell explained. "But, yeah, it's refreshing to know that we can do it. I think the race is going to play out a lot differently than what we had in the Spring with the temperatures being up. So, yeah, I'm a little bit apprehensive about how my car is going to drive, and I'm sure we're all feeling the same way."

Ironically enough, Bell will be paired head-to-head against Stenhouse this weekend in the opening round of a five-round NASCAR In-Season bracket-style tournament. Stenhouse joked that sending Boyd to the No. 20 team ahead of their clash at Atlanta was all a part of the plan for him to advance.

"Well, I kind of implanted a spy with his spotter. Bell doesn't know that, but he's going to sabotage him for me," Stenhouse joked. "No, I'm just kidding. I don't know. I think Bell and I were battling in the top-five there for the win, he got the win, obviously, in the first race at Atlanta, but I feel like we had the better car. I always feel like we have one of the best cars handling-wise here at Atlanta especially on the long runs, so, I really like our chances."

Stenhouse is without a doubt a very talented superspeedway racer as he has four career NASCAR Cup Series wins, which have all come at either Daytona or Talladega. Stenhouse will look to add an EchoPark Speedway trophy to his collection.

But if Stenhouse is going to be able to reach victory lane, much like Bell, it'll depend on how well he can work with his new spotter. Stenhouse's No. 47 team added veteran spotter Clayton Hughes, who was a longtime spotter for Martin Truex Jr., ahead of last week's race at Pocono Raceway.

Stenhouse felt he and Hughes hit the ground running really well together at Pocono Raceway, and he feels confident that he will have no issues stemming from the voice in his ear atop the spotter stand on Saturday evening in Hampton, GA.

"Clayton has done a lot of work, he's put in a lot of effort, already. We're on week two, so, encouraged with all of the work he's put in and getting to know everybody on the team, and the work that he's put in, just looking at what I do in the race car. I think going forward, he's not new to spotting, so obviously he's been doing it a long time. I told him, hey, he did a great job at Pocono for me. There was no point at Pocono where I didn't know what was going on around me. He gave me enough info so I think he'll be fine this weekend," Stenhouse explained.