NASCAR insiders react to FOX broadcast pit spotter taking over for Alex Bowman at COTA

Alex Bowman came down with an apparent illness during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Late in Stage 3, Bowman made the call to get out of his No. 48 Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports went to work on conducting a driver swap.

The person chosen to replace Bowman in the seat for the remainder of the race was Myatt Snider, a part-time driver who is the son of NBC Sports pit reporter Marty Snider. Myatt Snider serves as pit spotter for FOX Sports pit reporter Jamie Little and had brought both his helmet and fire suit with him to COTA.

Snider got the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of a Cup car for the first time and make some laps. It’s a cool story, one Jeff Gluck of The Athletic was upset he didn’t get to cover in full as Hendrick declined to make Snider available after the race.

“I think that would have been a pretty good story, the fact that he was Jamie Little’s pit spotter,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “Each of the pit reporters that you see on TV, they have somebody working with them to help them take notes and keep track of their section in pit row, radio chatter and all of that stuff. Myatt, obviously, his dad, Marty Snider, is great in the TV business, so he’s getting some experience in that kind of stuff, too, when he’s not in the car.

“Bowman is getting sick and might have to come in and apparently Chad Knaus was like, ‘Who could possibly do it?’ Apparently, Myatt Snider brings his helmet, and his fire suit and was able to go get it, run down, I mean, it was amazing watching it all happen so quickly. Apparently, he had to ask Jamie Little, ‘Hey, do you mind if I get in?’ … He’s texting Brad Perez, like, ‘Where do I brake on this thing?’”

Myatt Snider filled in for Alex Bowman in scene straight out of a movie

Snider stayed out of conflict and brought the No. 48 Chevrolet across the start-finish line 36th. Jordan Bianchi, Gluck’s colleague, described it as a scene straight out of Talladega Nights.

“It is a real life Ricky Bobby situation,” Bianchi said, “like, the driver in Talladega Nights had to get out of the car, and Ricky Bobby was like, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Snider will certainly have a cool story to tell one day about his Cup debut. As for Bowman, he was evaluated and released from the infield care center after the race.